Habitat conversion

Environmental Impacts of Production: Habitat Conversion

Major environmental problems arise from the production of bananas for export or from large-scale commercial production of bananas for local markets.

These include habitat conversion, soil erosion and degradation, pollution from agrochemical use, solid waste, and water usage.

Clearing large forest areas
During the expansion of the banana industry in Costa Rica from 1979 to 1992, 166,460 hectares of primary and secondary forests were cleared in the eastern province of Limon, the area of the country where bananas are produced for export.

During the same period, the area planted to bananas expanded by 51,000 hectares, yet in 1996 export bananas in Costa Rica covered some 52,000 hectares. In short, virtually all the production in Costa Rica shifted to new lands between 1979 and 1992. The lands used previously were abandoned by banana producers.

Blatant violation of environmental laws
The issue is not just the clearing of forests to produce basic food crops and foreign exchange. Commercial banana production has been a moving frontier that requires continual deforestation of tropical forests in countries such as Costa Rica.

In many instances, these areas are supposedly protected by law. For example, by law in Costa Rica forest strips must be left along the banks of rivers. The banana companies, however, have clear-cut these areas.

In many instances, deforestation takes place at the hands of independent owners who produce bananas and sell them to larger exporting companies.

The expansion often takes place gradually over time, and rarely on a large scale. Rather, thousands of producers cutting a hectare or ten in a year gradually eat away at the forest. Subsequent would-be banana producers leapfrog over previous ones, always farther into forests.