The people of Central America’s Dry Corridor—comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua—are fighting for their survival against the shocks of climate change and the pandemic’s fallout. Extreme weather events—including hurricanes, torrential rain, flooding, as well as months-long droughts—have devastated communities and disrupted food production, especially staples like maize and beans which depend on regular rainfall. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, the number of hungry Central Americans has quadrupled over the last two years to 8 million people—with 1.7 million requiring urgent food assistance for their survival. Join our expert panel as we explore the impact of climate change in Central America, the state of food insecurity there, and how the U.N. World Food Programme and others are supporting communities and building resilience to climate shocks.

Speakers: Chase Sova is Senior Director of Public Policy and Thought Leadership at World Food Program USA. He has professional experience in the areas of climate change and agricultural development with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Focused on agriculture policy, Chase has worked in 15 developing countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. He holds a Ph.D. in political ecology on climate change and agriculture from Oxford University. Kate Milliken is the UN World Food Programme’s regional climate  change  adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean. She  coordinates the design and implementation of  WFP  climate  innovations across countries in the  region.  Carlos Fuller is the International and Regional Liaison Officer of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, an intergovernmental organization established to coordinate CARICOM’s response to climate change. Mr. Fuller’s primary responsibility is to coordinate the region in the international climate change negotiation process. He is a meteorologist, and prior to joining the Centre was Director of the National Meteorological Service of Belize. Santa Fe Reporter journalist Katherine Lewin will moderate the discussion.