Environmental impact of avocado production : the case of Peru and South Africa

Sammanfattning

Human activities and agricultural practices pose challenges to the environment on planet Earth. Global biodiversity faces threat to extinction because of human activities. Although, the demand for specific products, in this case avocado has increased the past decade which put pressures on the resources but creates possibilities for producers. Avocado production requires resources in terms of land, and production inputs such as water, fertilizers and pesticides. The aim with this project was to identify and investigate environmental impacts from avocado production in Peru and South Africa. The ambition was to highlight strategies minimizing the negative effects on the environment from avocado production. Drawing on a literature review with articles from three different databases in a thorough step-by-step selection, the material was analyzed with the help of The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ conceptual framework. The results showed various impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, land, soil health, climate, and water availability and quality from avocado production, due to land-use change, irrigation and use of fertilizers and pesticides. Moreover, other findings of this project highlighted potential strategies to mitigate negative impacts which included aspects of education and farmers’ associations, and their importance of illustrating possibilities, development within the sector, and risks in the future. The varied results made it difficult to highlight which driver was the greatest contributor to the negative impacts, and therefore more research is needed to answer that question. Future research should include social aspects of these environmental impacts and investigate on site ecosystems and biodiversity to better understand the direct impacts.