Over the course of three summers, 26 graduate students (in cohort groups of 7-10) from universities across the U.S. were recruited to participate in a six-week international research experience (and two weeks of preparation) in El Salvador studying how climate change is impacting rural, agricultural communities and their adaptation strategies. The three cohorts of students had not conducted research abroad before. Climate change often requires communities to adapt to enhance their resiliency and foster practices that are more appropriate for new conditions. In regions where dry seasons are increasingly long and more severe, the shorter rainy seasons lead to fewer but more severe storms, which can result in flash flooding. Rural and agricultural communities are especially vulnerable to new seasonal conditions and resources for adaptation are more limited. Varied rainfall patterns are particularly challenging to rural farmers’ agricultural calendars and traditional practices where entire crops can be lost during unpredictable midsummer droughts or extreme rainfall events. The Dry Corridor of Central America (spanning parts of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) is an important region for agriculture, and long-term climate changes are spawning new adaptation strategies for dealing with changing drought conditions. Natural disasters, loss of agricultural livelihoods, and food insecurity are impacted by climate and are some of the root causes of migration from this region. Effective adaptation and resiliency strategies incorporate combinations of technological and societal changes. The collaborative model in this study consisted of experts in hydrology and watershed studies, ethnography, agriculture, and community outreach. Researchers and professionals from Michigan Technological University, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc., and Lutheran World Relief, a US-based international relief organization, collaborated in this multiyear project to conduct research on how communities effectively adapt to longer and more severe dry seasons and shorter rainy seasons that experience more extreme rainfall events. The project team and student participants collected and incorporated hydrometeorological and hydrological data, adapted water-assessment models to analyze flash-flood hazards and characterized issues affecting water access and water usage in small, rural communities. The students lived and worked in the communities and learned how to conduct ethnographic research to better understand the societal, economic, and policy impacts on water access. Students learned new collaborative research methods in an international context to enhance their capabilities for working in socially and culturally diverse settings to address complex problems in a changing climate and challenging landscapes. The project participants worked with local farmers and agricultural stakeholders to gain experience in how residents adapt to climate change for growing crops on small scales. The research team learned that issues affecting water access in rural communities are a complex combination of social, political, and land-title conditions. Our work demonstrated that projects by nongovernmental organizations are more sustainable where efforts are also focused on growing effective community leadership groups through training opportunities and continued active engagement. The international research experience was impactful for each of the students, especially in fostering more confidence in being able to effectively work in a different sociocultural setting. For some, the experiences were transformational. Some students changed their research projects afterward to base their graduate work on the experience. Some students used the research experience to later apply for funding and fellowships related to their work in El Salvador. For others, it inspired them to pursue doctoral studies and to conduct their research in El Salvador. The international partners benefited from the research results in helping to understand the most sustainable and impactful approaches for their project work in these communities. Collaborations formed throughout the project formed new connections that led to new risk reduction projects.

Last Modified: 01/11/2025
Modified by: John S Gierke