Only 22 of 257 pig farms in southeastern Mexico operate with the correct environmental impact statement, Greenpeace reported in 2020.
In agreement with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Greenpeace Mexico insisted this Thursday on prohibiting the installation and expansion of mega pig farms in the Yucatán peninsula.
Greenpeace celebrated that President López Obrador indicated in his morning press conference that he will issue a decree to prohibit pig farms that pollute aquifers.
“From Greenpeace Mexico we welcome the declarations of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to ban pig farms in Yucatán,” Greenpeace Mexico said in a public statement.
The global environmental organization also noted that it is necessary that all pig farms that are illegal and do not comply with current regulations be closed permanently.
“The installation of these mega-pig farms exerts a strong pressure on Mexico’s ecosystems, especially in a priority site for the conservation of biodiversity such as the Yucatan Peninsula, where the increase of mega-farms is increasingly rapid and disorderly,” it warned.
According to the organization, this is because the contaminated water seeps into the aquifer, one of the most important sources of water nationally and internationally, which supplies the region, including local populations.
Greenpeace Mexico recalled that since 2020 warned, in its report “Meat that is consuming the planet What’s behind the pork industry in the Yucatan Peninsula”, that only 22 of 257 farms operate with the correct environmental impact statement (MIA) in the Mexican southeast.
This means “that a little more than 90% of the pig farms operate illegally,” he said.
In addition, they pointed out that 43 of these pig farms are located in four Natural Protected Areas, among them the Cenotes Ring, which is considered a RAMSAR site, relevant because it contains wetlands of international importance.
Additionally, 122 of these farms (47%) are in regions considered priority sites for biodiversity conservation.
Of this number, there are currently 20 farms in conservation sites and 102 in restoration sites.
Greenpeace pointed out that this industry also devastates the rainforest because 45% of pig farming activities in the Yucatan Peninsula occur in the dry forest.
“It is estimated that in the peninsula, about 11,000 hectares of jungle have been potentially deforested. This in turn causes the accelerated loss of biodiversity of endemic and endangered species such as the jaguar and many others,” they said.
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