The recently published Global Climate Risk Index (2016) reconfirmed the fact that, in general, the least developed countries and the poorest regions of the world are the most vulnerable to the impacts of global climate change. This trend is true for Central America, where the four poorest countries in the region - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras (World Bank, 2013) - are among the top fifteen in the world in long-term climate risk (Global Index of Climate Risk, 2016). In these countries, already plagued by overwhelming social, environmental and economic problems, the increasing pressure of climate change puts stability, peace and prosperity at great risk, exacerbating conditions that already cause many children and young people to migrate without official authorization (Martin & Herzberg, 2014). In 2014, this condition triggered what the president of the United States, Barack Obama, called at the time "an urgent humanitarian situation." More than 70,000 children and unaccompanied minors arrived at the border between the United States and Mexico, more than 70% of whom came from the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (Department of Homeland Security, 2014).
Fleeing crime, violence, and the lack of educational and economic opportunities (Hanson, 2016), this wave of young immigrants represents a demographic for whom contemplating a future at home is contemplating a hopeless future. This demographic is not insignificant. With more than 50% of the population under 25 years of age (UN World Population Outlook, 2015), and more than one in five adolescents neither attending school nor working (International Labor Organization, 2013), there are more than a million young people who face circumstances similar to those who have already made the difficult decision to migrate to the United States (World Bank, 2016).
According to UNICEF, climate change in the coming years will increasingly be the cause of large-scale migrations of people that will be led in most cases by young people more willing to take risks (Martin et al., 2014). Proactive action to develop regional solutions that invest in opportunities for young people while building climate resilience is essential to give young people a reason not to migrate. Without this, the United States and Central America, this unique region of intertwined lives, economies, food crops and cultures, will end up facing a tragic humanitarian crisis in the years to come.