PBI-Guatemala hosts film screening and public forum on the climate crisis and water shortages

On February 26, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project hosted a film screening and discussion on the climate crisis and water shortages.

As noted on this Facebook event page, “We will present the documentary ‘La Sangre de la Tierra’ after which we will have a discussion on how the climate crisis is shown in Guatemala, especially through the dramatic shortage of water present in many parts of the country.”

The film screening and discussion took place in Guatemala City at La Casa de Cervantes, “a cultural house made up of galleries, a bookstore, restaurant, a fair trade store, the office of the NGO CEPP [the Small Producer Liaison Centre], and rooms for events.”

La Sangre de la Tierra

The documentary film by Félix Zurita tells the story of community resistance to hydroelectric dams. Specifically, opposition to the Puebla 1 dam in Mexico, Los Planes in Honduras, and the Renace and Oxec dams in Guatemala.

The trailer for the film can be seen here.

The climate crisis

PBI-Guatemala noted in Communities raise their voices about the climate crisis (pages 10-13 of Bulletin No. 42), “The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges that has faced humanity for decades and, having grown in urgency over time, it is now causing much alarm.”

“Despite this urgency, however, so far the necessary measures have not been taken worldwide to stop it and avoid reaching a point of no return.”

“Guatemala is among the countries most affected by this emergency.”

Water shortages

The Guardian has reported, “In 2018, drought-related crop failures directly affected one in 10 Guatemalans, and caused extreme food shortages for almost 840,000 people, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).”

“Water shortages and poverty are causally linked to the country’s skewed land distribution: roughly 2% of the population control 70% of all productive farmland.”

“Forests mitigate climate change, but Guatemala has lost half its woodlands in the past 40 years – and deforestation rates are rising, in turn causing floods, landslides and erosion of farmland.”

And Reuters has noted, “Guatemala could see a rise of 3 to 6 degrees Celsius by 2100 and a drop of 10 to 30 percent in rainfall if countries such as China, India and the United States do not cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Guatemalan System of Climate Change Sciences (SGCCC).”

The public forum

To watch the 1 hour 42 minute panel discussion, please click here.