The San Juan River in the Huehuetenango region is a sacred place; the water there is clean and it is a source of fresh water for the nearby villages. The inhabitants of the region go there every day to pray and leave flowers. In 2007, the river suddenly dried and representatives of the local communities — albeit from different religions — came to beg the river to fill up again. Ever since the river started flowing again not a day goes by without the locals coming to leave fresh flowers on its banks. 

This attitude towards water is very telling of the importance of this resource. The citizens of Guatemala are dependent on the water resources near them and to a great extent on rainwater, especially the communities living high in the mountains. Meanwhile, one of the most serious problems Guatemalans are currently facing is the lack of water. 

The Chanchicupe community, in which the locals are called ‘mam’ — one of the 22 indigenous tribes in Guatemala — is one of the many communities which experience difficulties with access to water. The village is located high in the mountains and the effects of climate change on the locals there are serious. A few years ago, the villagers there knew for sure that the rainfall season ran from May until October. Now they do not have that certainty; they face dry periods which make the farming season impossible to plan. The community does everything it can to adapt to the changes and the villagers have to shoulder the responsibility. Unfortunately, government support is almost non-existent even for ordinary Guatemalans, and when it comes to indigenous people — it is completely missing. Because of the government policy which does not support the native population in Guatemala, the members of communities such as Chanchicupe mainly rely on rainwater. They share that the government’s discriminatory policy towards the indigenous population of Guatemala means that they have to wait twice as long for wells and drills which would give them access to groundwater. 

The native population of Guatemala can sustain itself — people are used to dealing with challenges on their own and climate change is no exception. Young people are especially active. The young women in Chanchicupe have formed a youth activist group which has 15 members. They have taken it upon themselves to show other villagers and local NGOs how much climate change has affected their lives. Thanks to their hand-made ‘weather station’ they measure the changes in the climate on a daily basis. The system is relatively simple —  it consists of a thermometer which measures the minimum and maximum temperature every day, as well as the humidity, and there is a tool to measure the rain in order to see how much rainfall there is on a daily basis and how much the water level has risen. In the high mountain villages in Guatemala, there are around 30 stations like this which are supported by local and European NGOs such as ASEDE and CIR. Young people share that in comparison to 2020, the changes they are witnessing are affecting the everyday lives of the community and their livelihood. 

The closest water sources to Chanchicupe are kilometres away from the village and the rivers nearby are polluted; farming suffers because of the lack of rain. Farming is the main livelihood and the most common crop is maize, but the lack of rain leads to poor maize yields and puts the villagers at risk of food shortages. 

Despite these difficulties communities are working together to deal with the problem. Apart from youth groups, there are older women groups in most villages. They work together with young people to help with the adaptation to climate change and one of their goals is to plant trees and revive the lost forests so as to sustain the humidity in the high mountain regions. Before the drought, these trees were cut in order to be used as firewood during the rough winter days but local activists are trying to return the humidity in the region by planting shoots provided by ASEDE. 

Chancicupe is only one of many examples of how climate change is affecting the livelihood of Guatemalans. There are a lot of communities like this high up in the Guatemalan mountains and food security is slowly turning into the biggest issue for local people there. The conditions are rough — cold winters, warm summers and droughts — but farmers are hopeful that they will be able to manage with the help of local NGOs and by forming cooperatives to help each other. Nevertheless, climate change is a serious threat to people living high in the mountains; if we do not find a way to mitigate climate change, communities will continue to face the threat of losing a resource, food insecurity and the need to migrate as climate refugees.