Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-12 (section)

==== 12.3.1.3 Vulnerability ====

<div id="h3-3-siblings" class="h3-siblings"></div>

Climate change is exacerbating socioeconomic vulnerability in CA, a region with high levels of socioeconomic, ethnic and gender inequality, high rates of child and maternal mortality and morbidity, high levels of malnutrition and inadequate access to food and drinking water ( [[#ECLAC--2015|ECLAC et al., 2015]] ). Disasters from adverse natural events exacerbate CA’s economic vulnerability, accounting for substantial human and economic losses ( [[#UNISDR%20and%20CEPREDENAC--2014|UNISDR and CEPREDENAC, 2014]] ). Vulnerability in most sectors is considered high or very high ( ''high confidence'' ) (Figure 12.7).

Approximately 40% of the CA population live in poverty. Guatemala (62%), Honduras (60%), Nicaragua (46%) and Belize (42%, 2009) had the highest poverty rates in CSA in 2018 ( [[#ECLAC--2019b|ECLAC, 2019b]] ; [[#BCIE--2020|BCIE, 2020]] ). Rural poverty rates are higher—82% in Honduras and 77% in Guatemala in 2014—as is poverty among Indigenous Peoples, up to 79% in Guatemala. Rural poor are the most sensitive to climate extremes as their main economic activity is based on agriculture in vulnerable terrains (NU [[#CEPAL--2018|CEPAL, 2018]] ). In 2014, all CA countries, except for El Salvador (excluding Belize), had higher GINI coefficients (more inequality) than the average for Latin America (0.473), which in itself is the most unequal region in the world ( [[#ECLAC--2019b|ECLAC, 2019b]] ); in 2018 the situation remained similar, with El Salvador showing the lowest GINI coefficient (40) and the remaining countries showing values higher than the Latin American average ( [[#BCIE--2020|BCIE, 2020]] ).

<div id="12.3.1.4" class="h3-container"></div>

<span id="impacts"></span>