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Paper short abstract:

This paper will discuss the tensions that emerge between those who look to avoid further deforestation in a region where much damage has been caused by the expansion of the Hass avocado monocrops, and those who see in this industry the possibility to secure their livelihoods.

Paper long abstract:

The Mexican state of Michoacán produces the largest volume of Hass avocado for the export market, mostly in the Purhépecha Plateau region, once characterized by its vast pine and oak forests. This industry transformed a marginal and impoverished region into an agro-industrial enclave integrated into an international economy through the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since 1994. However, it also triggered deforestation.

Whilst some orchards were planted on agricultural land plots, most have substituted pine and oak forests, particularly after 1997, when the exports agreement began. In 2017 accusations about the illegal land use change appeared in the regional press. At the same time, the state government launched an initiative called the Environmental Security Roundtable, to monitor environmental damage such as illegal logging for land use change.

This paper will discuss the tensions that emerge between those who look to avoid further deforestation (including government initiatives) in a region where much damage has been caused by the expansion of the Hass avocado monocrops, and those who see in this industry the possibility to secure their livelihoods. Even if the narrative of conservation is accepted by people in the Hass avocado-growing region, especially by leftwing militants, it struggles to get further consent among others who have access to land and see in this industry the possibility to secure their livelihoods by exporting a much-valued produce in the United States and Canada.