Expansión de la frontera agrícola del aguacate en la franja aguacatera de Michoacán, México, 1974-2024.
Main Article Content
Abstract
This work illustrates 50 years of the expansion of avocado in the so-called 'avocado belt' of Michoacán, Mexico. Avocado is one of the most important agricultural products of Mexico. The country is the world's largest producer of avocados, with the state of Michoacán being the top producer. Throughout this period, the avocado frontier has been expanding at different paces, but unfortunately, in the last two decades, accelerated expansion has taken place on forested lands, causing severe environmental problems. Through a series of six maps, we showcase the history of this expansion. The maps were prepared by visual interpretation of aerial photographs and very high-resolution satellite imagery for the following years: 1974, 1995, 2007, 2011, 2018, and 2024. All maps were initially produced at scales ranging from 1:5,000 to 1:20,000 and finally brought to the scale of 1:20,000 by cartographic generalization for uniformity in their visual comparison.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
PLUMX Metrics
References
CEC, 2023a. Avocado Production in Michoacán. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, http://www.cec.org/media/cec-receives-submission-on-avocado-production-in-michoacan/
CEC, 2023b. CEC Receives Submission on Avocado Production in Michoacán. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, http://www.cec.org/media/cec-receives-submission-on-avocado-production-in-michoacan/.
Cho, K., 2020. Environmental impacts of the U.S.-Mexico avocado supply chain. [Master thesis, The University of Michigan, 44 pp.].
CONANP, 2023. Impactos de la expansión del cultivo del aguacate sobre las Áreas Naturales Protegidas de México. Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Gobierno Federal.
CRI, 2023. Unholy Guacamole: Deforestation, Water Capture, and Violence Behind Mexico’s Avocado Exports to the U.S. and Other Major Markets. Climate Rigths International.
Denvir, A., 2023. Avocado expansion and the threat of forest loss in Michoacán, Mexico under climate change scenarios. Applied Geography 151, 102856, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2022.102856.
España Boquera, M. L., Castro Bleda, M. J., España Boquera, S., 2022. Cartografía del aguacate en Michoacán con imágenes Sentinel-2 y una metodología mixta. Revista de Geografía Agrícola (69), 61–79, https://doi.org/10.5154/r.rga.2022.69.03.
European Commission, 2023. Regulation on Deforestation-free Products. https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/forests/deforestation/regulation-deforestation-free-products_en.
Franco, A. B., 2023. Análisis espaciotemporal del proceso de pérdida forestal en los municipios de Charo, Hidalgo, Indaparapeo, Queréndaro y Zinapécuaro. Michoacán, México. Revista Cartográfica (106), 99–123, https://doi.org/10.35424/rcarto.i106.3134.
Guardián Forestal, 2024. Plataforma digital Guardián Forestal. https://guardianforestal.com/.
López Sánchez, J. G., 2024. Expansión aguacatera y balance hídrico en el Oriente de Michoacán. [Master thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 64 pp.].
Morales Manilla, L. M., Cuevas, G., 2011. Inventarios 1974 – 2007, y evaluación del impacto ambiental regional del cultivo del aguacate en el estado de Michoacán. Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, UNAM; Fundación Produce Michoacán, 138 pp.
Morales Manilla, L. M., Espino Barajas, L. A., Dueñas Cabrera, A. M., López Sánchez, J. G., Coba Pérez, P. C., 2024. The 2024 agricultural frontier of avocado in the State of Michoacán. Final Report. Estrategias para la regulación del cambio de uso de suelo y mecanismos de incidencia para mitigar el impacto socioambiental en la franja aguacatera de Michoacán. Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación; Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, UNAM.
Morales Manilla, L. M., Reyes González, A., Cuevas García, G., Onchi Ramuco, M., 2012. Inventario 2011 del cultivo del aguacate y evaluación del impacto ambiental forestal en el estado de Michoacán. Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, UNAM; COFUPRO, 108 pp.
Ramírez, M. I., Špirić, J., Orozco-Meléndez, F., Merlo-Reyes, A., Aug. 2024. Sustainability of the community model of avocado production in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Michoacán, México. GeoJournal 89 (5), 189, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-024-11195-3.
Subercaseaux-Ugarte, D., Bocco, G., Cumana, I., Moreno-Calles, A. I., Astier, M., Navarrete, A., 2025. Cambio de Uso del Suelo e Implicaciones de la Expansión Agroindustrial Aguacatera en el Occidente de México. Revista de geografía Norte Grande (90), 1–27, https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34022025000100105.
World Economic Forum, 2020. Industries in Depth. Avocado: the ’green gold’ causing environmental havoc. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/02/avocado-environment-cost-food-mexico/.