Avocado trees and biodiversity: a virtuous link

Chile ratified the “Convention for the Protection of Flora, Fauna and Natural Scenic Beauty” in 1967 (Official Gazette, October 4, 1967), thus initiating a legal commitment to environmental conservation. This raises the question: what is the relationship between flora, fauna, and scenic beauty and avocados? In this first column on Avobook, we will explore that relationship.

This year, our focus will be on the “International Day for Biological Diversity” (May 22) and its connection to avocado forests. This commemoration originated with the 1992 Nairobi Agreement and the signing of the Convention in Rio de Janeiro that same year, which was ratified by the Chilean National Congress and published in the Official Gazette on May 6, 1995. In 2006, the publication “Biodiversity of Chile: Heritage and Challenges” (CONAMA) was released, which had a significant impact by systematizing and valuing knowledge on this subject in the country. In addition to the Convention, Chile has a “National Biodiversity Strategy 2025-2030” (Ministry of the Environment-UNDP-GEF) and a new institutional framework with the creation of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (Law 21600). Consequently, we have a legal and operational structure aimed at conserving biodiversity.

In this scenario, avocado forests play a role by being present in semi-arid areas, contributing to biological diversity through the consolidation of their presence for eighty years (California Orchard, Quillota) and the plantations started in the early nineties in new geographical spaces.

The first soil interventions of the nineties drew attention for using soils unknown to the Persea americana Mill, to the farmers and to those who live in those areas.

Undoubtedly, an analysis and debate arose regarding something unknown, which we have been able to evaluate in all its aspects over the years.

One of these aspects is what brings us together now: biological diversity and Persea americana Mill. Since 2019, together with the Water Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones for Latin America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC.org), a Category II center of the International Hydrological Programme, under the auspices of UNESCO, we began exploring, studying, and analyzing avocado forests, discovering the biological diversity generated within them and in their immediate surroundings. This research was published in the “State of the Art Environmental Assessment of Persea americana Mill Plantations in Chile” ( https://www.cazalac.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Cazalac_Estudio_12-09.pdf ). In this initial study, we already found evidence of the positive relationship between avocado trees and biological diversity, as they provide water and food to the native and/or endemic fauna and avifauna that inhabit these ecosystems in semi-arid zones currently experiencing a megadrought. A primary conclusion was that this fauna remains in the cultivated area due to the availability of water and protected environments (only agricultural personnel circulate within the area). In those properties bordering uninhabited areas above 1000 meters above sea level, this also provides adequate isolation for the existence of refuges (burrows) for native and/or endemic birds and fauna. Furthermore, it helps conserve xerophytic formations by being located in areas that are difficult to access or are delimited by these properties.

The interface between avocado forests with xerophytic formations and sclerophyllous forests is positive, as it allows the passage of species such as foxes, pumas, eagles, hawks and some iconic species such as Darwin's Big-eared Mouse ( Phyllotis darwini ), Yaca ( Thylamys elegans), Tucuquere ( Bubo magellanicus), Woodpecker (Veniliornis lignarius), to mention a few.

In conclusion, Persea americana Mill, palta, avocado, is a contribution to biological diversity even in semi-arid conditions with megadrought.

For these reasons, we invite all avocado producers to invest in biodiversity to contribute to sustainability, while also fulfilling their ratified international commitments. And you… what are you doing to conserve biodiversity on your avocado farm?

From this first column on Avobook I will begin to share the experiences and connections of the "paltaguacate" with geographical aspects, from hydrology, biodiversity, conservation and atmospheric CO2, among other topics, based on the evidence we have of our iconic, healthy and tasty " Persea americana Mill"

Elir Rojas Calderón
Bachelor of Geography / Geographer+Hydrologist+CO2
elir.rojas@gmail.com - +56 9 99019744