MEXICO.
As the culture of environmental protection and awareness of the climate emergency we face grows, the debate in Mexican homes over which Christmas tree we should buy to make it more sustainable is more and more common. artificial or natural?
On the one hand, there are those who believe that acquiring an artificial pine is a way of preserving forests, since it can be reused for many years, and that a natural tree is not cut, which could cause deforestation and damage to ecosystems.
The downside to artificial pine trees is that they are made with petroleum compounds, mostly plastics, which represent 85 percent of the world’s waste, according to United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Ornela Garelli Rios, specialist in Responsible consumption and climate change from Greenpeace Mexico, warned that according to a study carried out in Canada, to reduce the ecological footprint of an artificial tree, it must be used for at least 20 years.
If you are going to choose a new artificial tree, buy one that meets your needs keeping that in mind, which will be the tree you will spend the next 20 Christmases with, ”he said.
The activist indicated that the ideal is to continue to use the artificial pine that we already have at home year after year, because the most ecological is to reuse it and not to buy a new one, even if it is natural for long-lasting use.
Otherwise, artificial trees will end up in landfills or landfills, and we’re talking about being plastic, and depending on what kind of plastic it is, it can take tens to hundreds of years to degrade ”, he warned.
Ornela Garelli Ríos pointed out that artificial pine trees can also end up in an incinerator and, when burned, generate greenhouse gases and release toxic substances such as dioxins and furans, which affect the environment and the human health.
For its part, National Forestry Commission (Conafor), urged the population to consume natural Christmas trees, preferably of national origin, which are completely renewable, as they are harvested in commercial plantations specially established for this purpose.
Diego Montiel Oscura, deputy director of Allocation and use of Conafor media, clarified that the producer does not extract a pine which grows naturally in the forest.
If not deliberately, with a whole study, and the corresponding authorizations, he is implanting these saplings on a plot with the intention of marketing them, ”he explained.
The forest engineer said that around these uses, jobs and economic benefits are generated for rural communities and ejidos, where projects are developed.
On the other hand, he pointed out, artificial trees are generally imported from China, and from the start with their transfer to consumption centers, they have a significant carbon footprint, in addition their final disposal is complicated, because they are made of different types of plastic. and materials which make their eventual recycling very complex.
Natural trees have the advantage that once their cycle is over or the festivities are over, they can be reused to give life to new pines; Generally, municipalities and mayors set up collection centers where young trees are crushed and compost is generated from this material, which makes it possible to produce new trees in forest nurseries, ”he said. commented.
PROVIDE EMERGENCY
Rafael Parrilla Arroyo, Agronomist with a Master of Science, is the Managing Director of Navidad Bosque Esmeralda, located in Amecameca, State of Mexico, a 26.19 hectare plot, which was saved after being eroded by intensive planting of pulquero maguey, corn, oatmeal, pumpkin and bean.
After in 2011, 28 families from the Emiliano Zapata ejido, formed a community social enterprise in order to establish a commercial Christmas tree plantation, restoration and conservation works started on the site rich in biodiversity, on the slopes of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes.
Ten years later, Navidad Bosque Esmeralda has 54,000 pines planted with species of ayacahuite (Pinus ayacahuite), oyamel (Religious abies) and Canadian (Pseudotsuga macrolepis), which in addition to generating local employment and income, provide valuable environmental services in the region, such as recharge of aquifers, carbon capture and oxygen production.
The forest land is also the habitat of 45 medicinal plants, edible mushrooms, more than 50 varieties of birds, as well as species such as rattlesnake, armadillo, coyote, opossum, skunk and wildcat.
Parrilla Arroyo pointed out that sustainable logging like this helps stop the advance of the urban area that occurs with land use change, capture millions of gallons of water and provide shelter. to plants and animals.
Christmas Bosque Esmeralda is undoubtedly a success story rewarded in 2020 by the State Prize for Environmental Merit in the Local Authorities category and in 2021 by a “BOscar”, awarded by the civil association. We reforest Mexico and the National Forest Merit Award in the category of Micro and Small Enterprises linked to the Forest Sector by Conafor.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
The agronomist said climate change is undoubtedly being affected in Mexican forests with the presence of increasingly voracious pests, such as bark cutters.
Climate change allows pests that were, for example, meters closer to sea level, to move today towards the highest part of the national territory ”, he lamented.
He pointed out that the bark beetle (Dendroctonus mexicanus), now climbs to higher altitudes, gaining ground and displacing other insects that are not as dangerous as the Adjuvant dendroctonus
He clarified that harmful insects Scolyte, are another type of borers and bark that attack fir trees.
He added that in the particular case of the christmas trees, in February and March they suffer from the propagation of the woolly aphid, and in July-August, when the rains are already installed, they face the fungus linked to leaf blight.
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