El Salvador: Climate Crisis Costs 13% of GDP

Climate disasters cost El Salvador, a small country in Central America, 13.3 percentage points of its GDP. This is reported by the Salvadoran publication El Mundo, quoting the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Fernando Lopez.

“The negative impact of climate on our country is clear: over the past three decades, climate disasters have caused losses equivalent to 13.3% of our GDP, mainly affecting the agricultural sector, transportation, and housing,” Lopez explained during his speech at COP 29, held in Azerbaijan, noting that at least 1.9 million people (out of a population of 6.3 million) have been affected, and the number of deaths caused by extreme climate events is in the hundreds.

El Salvador is particularly prone to extreme climatic peaks due to its geographical position: extremely dry periods alternate with others characterized by intense rainfall.

Lopez further clarifies: “Our position is privileged because we are located at a strategic point on the American continent that acts as a natural bridge between north and south. But we are at the epicenter of the climate crisis, and even though El Salvador accounts for only 0.04% of global greenhouse gas emissions, we are disproportionately suffering the consequences.”