Mexico: Deforestation for avocados much higher than thought
Source: Associated Press
Mexico: Deforestation for avocados much higher than thought
By: Associated Press
Posted: 9:10 PM, Oct 31, 2016
Updated: 28 mins ago
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Deforestation caused by the expansion of Mexican avocado orchards is much higher than previously thought, authorities said Monday.
Talia Coria, an official in the attorney general's office for environmental protection, said almost 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of forest land are converted to agricultural uses each year in the western state of Michoacan, the world's top producer of avocados.
Coria, who heads the office's Michoacan division, said between 30 percent and 40 percent of the annual forest loss is due to avocados. That is about 15,000 to 20,000 acres (6,000 to 8,000 hectares).
Experts say a mature avocado orchard uses almost twice as much water as fairly dense forest, meaning less water reaches Michoacan's legendary crystalline mountain streams on which trees and animals in the forests depend. Species like the monarch butterfly also rely on Michoacan forest as habitat, though Coria said there does not appear to have been damage to the monarch wintering grounds from avocado expansion yet.
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