El Niño speeds climate crisis and tests Latin America’s food security

El Niño's warped rain and heat patterns are hitting Latin American farms hard, with Bolivia declaring disaster zones after snow buried livestock and families lost their entire livelihoods overnight.

International food agencies report that roughly a quarter of the world's population faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, even as hunger ticked down for a third straight year — progress that officials admit is fragile.

Experts point out the bitter irony that Latin America exports food globally while hosting the world's most expensive healthy diet, leaving smallholder farmers, who supply the bulk of the region's food, exposed to losses with little safety net.

The World Meteorological Organization expects the Central American Dry Corridor, the Caribbean and northern South America to bear the worst of the drought and heat, while Pacific coastlines brace for floods instead.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.