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While climate services for small-scale farmers are gaining recognition for contributing to adaptation and resilience to climate variability and change, their provision in developing countries remains a critical challenge. Effective climate services consider why and how farmers of varied socioeconomic background make relevant decisions avoiding the traditional prescriptive forms of transfer that merely focus on delivering climate information. Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa shows that climate services for agriculture generates transformations in how farmers access and use climate information, as well as changes in farmer decision-making. In this paper, we address the question of whether the same effect is also seen in Latin America, where farming systems, farming decisions, socioeconomic contexts and non-climate constraints are very different to those of Africa. A group of 209 farmers in the dry corridor in Honduras was studied. We find that 98% of the trained farmers did uptake and use the climate information, and some 73% expressed that the agroclimatic information was key to the success of their harvest despite the challenging 2019 season. Some 43% of the farmers made changes in farming practices. In particular, farmers changed the crop they grew, the crop and land management, the planting dates, inputs and crop varieties. These changes reportedly had positive effects on their food security, and income. These findings support the hypothesis that Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) plays a positive role in providing effective climate services in Central America, improving decision-making, and enabling farmers to make their own decisions based on the analysis of information and their demands regardless of their level of literacy. We pose that participatory climate services in agriculture can catalyse processes of long-term transformation in farming systems, notably through lifting farmers out of poverty and food insecurity and providing an integrated approach to make informed decisions in the face of climatic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to Hurricane Mitch at the end of the 20th century, migration from Honduras to the United States was confined to a few sending and receiving areas linking, for example, the Caribbean coast of Honduras to New Orleans and parts of the interior to California. By contrast, migration to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico had a long and complex history prior to Hurricane María in 2017—so pervasive, in fact, that the number of Puerto Ricans living on the U.S. mainland surpassed those living on the islands of Puerto Rico in 2015. Following both Hurricanes Mitch and María, migration became a key method by which people dealt with the disruptions of the storms, facilitated by the Puerto Rican diaspora in the Puerto Rican case and by the extension of Temporary Protective Status to Hondurans in the Honduran case. From these two cases, it is possible to assess and revise stylized facts concerning the relationships between environmental change and human migration that address the roles that migration traditions play in responding to disasters and in the livelihoods of migrants. Such findings can prove useful to multiple individuals and entities attempting to manage responses to human-natural disasters. At the same time, as widely accepted generalizations in the social sciences, stylized facts often enter public consciousness transmogrified into bizarre and inaccurate forms that facilitate visceral social and cultural reactions. In light of livelihood constellations in Puerto Rico and Honduras, this paper considers the intersection of two global phenomena framed as crises in the mass media: increasing human-natural disasters attributed to climate change and global migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technologies help build farmer resilience to climate change, but the relationships among technology transfer, adoption, vulnerability, and resilience are not well-understood. This paper empirically examines the technology transfer process for smallholder farmers in Honduras from an adaptation perspective. It addresses two questions: (1) How does technology transfer contribute to pathways to resilience for smallholder farmers? (2) What challenges do these efforts face in meeting diverse farmer needs and overcoming barriers to technology adoption by the most vulnerable to climate change? These questions are analysed in the context of United States government's Feed the Future initiative. Interviews with smallholder farmers were conducted regarding experiences with technology transfer, adoption choices, and perceptions of climate change. The study found that while adoption rates were high overall, the pace of adoption was still slow, demonstrating a tension between the urgency of climate change and the pace of smallholder adoption. The study found that many technologies increase resilience but may not always be adaptive in the long-term, and that significant resources are needed to successfully transfer technologies to smallholder farmers. This study provides evidence of ways agricultural technology projects contribute to pathways to resilience and demonstrates barriers to their success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coffee has been a focal commodity for efforts to promote sustainability and social justice through alternative trade arrangements. Certifications such as Fairtrade have promised better prices, fair labor practices, environmental sustainability and improved livelihoods for small-scale coffee producers. A growing literature has examined alternative trade outcomes, but it remains an open question whether certifications help producers and their organizations improve livelihoods and conserve the environment. This study examines Café Orgánico de Marcala, SA (COMSA), which operates on principles of sustainability that emerged in conjunction with certifications. COMSA supports organic production through education and practices that integrate biodynamic principles, indigenous knowledge, and experimentation. COMSA has used fair trade premiums to build a multilingual school and start a recycling program, among other projects. Members and leaders acknowledge that problems exist yet point to progress. This ethnographic research uses grounded theory to examine COMSA's approach to sustainability, its successes, and ongoing challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its utopian orientation, the anti-capitalist, decolonial notion of buen vivir understates how precarious life is for those who experiment with practicing its principles. Furthermore, climate change and climate mitigation will exacerbate precarity for the foreseeable future. In response, we develop a conceptual argument that integrates concepts from post-extractivism, climate adaptation, communitarian feminism, and prefigurative politics for a more accurate and more actionable, eutopian concept we term buen sobrevivir, or surviving well. We then illustrate the concept through Lenca women's struggles to make alternatives possible in the face of violent extractivism, patriarchy, and climate change impacts in post-coup Honduras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the principal role of coffee exports in rural Latin American livelihoods, the literature on gender and climate adaptation in agriculture has paid little attention to this sector. This paper examines gender differences in on-farm and off-farm climate adaptation measures undertaken by smallholder coffee farmers in Western Honduras. We conducted 29 qualitative interviews with women and men coffee farmers in three coffee-dependent villages in Intibucá. We find that participants, regardless of gender, use few on-farm climate adaptation measures, and increasingly rely on off-farm activities such as waged employment and international migration to complement their coffee-based livelihoods. We also find that women farmers utilize fewer adaptation measures due to a gender asset gap and the gender division of labor in coffee-producing households. We conclude that women's limited access to the means of production in coffee-producing communities and their responsibilities for domestic labor impede community resilience to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yield fluctuation is a major risk in all agricultural sectors, and it influences Goal 2 (food security) of the UN SDGs. Yield fluctuations are expected due to climate change, risking stable coffee supplies, and compromising coffee-exporting countries' ability to earn revenue to pay for food imports. Technology minimizing yield fluctuations is crucial for food security and for coffee farmers to earn a stable income. Fluctuations are small if yields remain close to the mean yield trends. In this study, the coffee yields of major producers are analyzed, together with zonal temperature data, to see where coffee is grown with stable technology under rising temperatures; thus, we demonstrate the advantages of the Yield Stability Index (YSI) over traditional stability measurements in guiding policy formulation and managerial decisions. The Yield Stability Index (YSI) is applied for 1961–1994 and 1995–2020, for the world's 12 major coffee-producing countries. The YSI indicates that of the 12 countries, only Indonesia, Honduras, and Mexico maintain stable yield levels, while Brazil and Vietnam considerably improve their yield stability, which traditional stability measures cannot grasp. Country-wise differences exist in environmental vulnerability and adaptability, with implications for food security. The novelty is the application of the YSI, and the connection between yield stability, climate change, and food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Latin America, improved water access in rural areas has primarily been secured by residents themselves, bolstered by myriad state and nonstate, domestic and international, entities. In recent decades, the state has lent increasing attention to the rural sector. This article examines recent state interventions towards understanding the evolution of the state's role in rural water provision vis-à-vis community-based water service providers in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Recognizing the tensions inherent in a call for state engagement in rural water provision, we propose roles that directly engage the challenges facing community-based water management organizations, emphasizing state engagement with national and transnational water committee governance networks and state-society accountability mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitonuclear discordance is a frequently encountered pattern in phylogeographic studies and occurs when mitochondrial and nuclear DNA display conflicting signals. Discordance among these genetic markers can be caused by several factors including confounded taxonomies, gene flow, and incomplete lineage sorting. In this study, we present a strong case of mitonuclear discordance in a species complex of toads (Bufonidae: Incilius coccifer complex) found in the Chortís Block of Central America. To determine the cause of mitonuclear discordance in this complex, we used spatially explicit genetic data to test species limits and relationships, characterize demographic history, and quantify gene flow. We found extensive mitonuclear discordance among the three recognized species within this group, especially in populations within the Chortís Highlands of Honduras. Our data reveal nuclear introgression within the Chortís Highlands populations that was most probably driven by cyclical range expansions due to climatic fluctuations. Though we determined introgression occurred within the nuclear genome, our data suggest that it is not the key factor in driving mitonuclear discordance in the entire species complex. Rather, due to a lack of discernible geographic pattern between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, as well as a relatively recent divergence time of this complex, we concluded that mitonuclear discordance has been caused by incomplete lineage sorting. Our study provides a framework to test sources of mitonuclear discordance and highlights the importance of using multiple marker types to test species boundaries in cryptic species. see also the Perspective by Jeffrey W. Streicher and Julia J. Day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their incredible diversity, relatively little work has been done to assess impacts of climate change on tropical freshwater organisms. Chortiheros wesseli is a species of Neotropical cichlid (Cichlidae: Cichlinae) restricted to only a few river drainages in the Caribbean-slope of Honduras. Little is known about this species and few specimens had been collected until recently; however, our work with this species in the wild has led to a better understanding of its ecology and habitat preferences making it an excellent model for how freshwater fishes can be affected by climate change. This study assesses the distribution and habitats of Chortiheros wesseli using a combination of field data and species distribution modeling. Results indicate this species is largely limited to its current range, with no realistic suitable habitat nearby. Empirical habitat data show that this species is limited to narrow and shallow flowing waters with rapids and boulders. This habitat type is highly influenced by precipitation, which contributed the greatest influence on the models of present and future habitat suitability. Although several localities are within boundaries of national protected areas, species distribution models all predict a reduction in the range of this freshwater fish based on climate change scenarios. The likelihood of a reduced range for this species will be intensified by adverse changes to its preferred habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]