Photo: Daria Shevtsova | Pexels
While avocados have been a miracle crop for thousands of small farmers in western Mexico, their farming has been devastating because loggers clear humid pine forests for avocado plantations that drain local water supplies and the avocado growers draw drug cartels hungry for extortion money. In the indigenous township of Cheran, in 2011, citizens declared themselves autonomous and formed their own government. They banned commercial avocado growing, but people can grow up to 10 plants for food. Once forests are cleared, avocado growers dig retaining ponds to water their orchards, draining streams used by people farther down the mountain. Cheran began by blocking roads used by illegal loggers and now digs trenches across logging roads. Armed forestry patrols protect the forests from the logging.
|
|
More:
