More than 25 organizations are urging the U.S. State Department to stop imports of avocados linked to recent deforestation in Mexico.
Most of the deforestation is happening illegally, some imperils monarch butterfly habitat and it all undermines international pledges made by both countries to halt deforestation, the groups say.
An estimated 10 football fields of forest in Mexico are cleared every day to create avocado plantations, according to a letter from the groups. Mexico is the largest U.S. supplier of avocados, providing almost 90% of the fruit sold in the U.S.
“U.S. avocado imports are fueling deforestation just when we desperately need intact forests to fight the biodiversity and climate crises,” Tanya Sanerib, international legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release release. “Halting imports of avocados from recently deforested areas would help protect Mexico’s wildlife and uphold our global forest-protection pledges.”
Avocados are a water-intensive crop, and meeting irrigation demand depletes water sources for local communities and leaves remaining native forests vulnerable to fire and disease, the groups said in the letter.
“Forests, monarchs and local communities will fare a lot better if we curb avocado imports from recently deforested land,” Sanerib said in the release. “We shouldn’t be purchasing and promoting products linked to illegal activity. Instead, we need a system that rewards law-abiding avocado growers with access to the U.S. market while shutting out bad actors.”
Many Mexican growers have created legal, longstanding avocado farms that could continue to supply the U.S. if avocados from recently deforested lands are banned, said the groups, adding that stopping imports of harmful avocados would aid monarch butterflies, which need protection.
This year’s overwintering monarch population was the second-lowest ever recorded, and the population is only one-sixth of the size scientists say is needed to avoid migratory collapse, according to the groups. Monarchs are currently a candidate species for U.S. Endangered Species Act protection.
More than 25 organizations are urging the U.S. State Department to stop imports of avocados linked to recent deforestation in Mexico.
