Climate Change Is Pushing Young People in Honduras To Leave Farming and Migrate

The changing climate is reshaping migration from Honduras. Drought and erratic rainfall are undermining agriculture, pushing young people to migrate in search of a more secure future.

Since the start of 2021, U.S. immigration authorities have encountered more migrants from Honduras at the southern U.S. border than any country except Mexico, and climate change is one reason why.

That’s apparent in the sudden devastation caused by two hurricanes that struck the country in late 2020, and also in the slow-moving catastrophe of erratic rainfall and drought that are undermining agriculture — a major blow for a country that historically relies on farming for subsistence.

NPR talked to dozens of Hondurans in rural towns and villages who told us that changing climate is making it harder to survive. It’s adding one more pressure to the complicated decision about whether to migrate in search of a better life in the U.S.