A disappearance of more than 1,200 hectares of tree cover registered in Costa Rica between 2015 and 2019 due to pineapple activity, according to the latest study by Monitoring the Change of Land Use and Coverage in Productive Landscapes (Mocupp).
This same satellite tool had reported that more than 5,000 hectares of forest had been lost on the banks of rivers and wetlands between 2000 and 2015, due to pineapple activity. This means that, if the years monitored by this tool are added, the country registers more than 6,000 hectares of forests impacted by this industry between 2000 and 2019.
Mocupp also warned in 2016 of the existence of more than 1,200 hectares of pineapple within Protected Wild Areas. “The rigorous study of the Mocupp is irrefutable evidence that the judicial authorities could use to punish deforestation crimes carried out by the national pineapple industry”, said the Ecological Federation (Fecon).
Of the 65 thousand hectares of pineapple cultivation in Costa Rica until 2019, San Carlos is the canton with the largest area occupied by monoculture, with more than 18 thousand hectares.