“Avocado Rise” is a short, 10-minute documentary on the environmental challenges and ravages of growing avocados in a protected area of the Dominican Republic. This documentary deals with the avocado farms authorized by the Medina administration to operate in the Bahoruco/Jaragua Biosphere, one of the most environmentally diverse areas of the Dominican Republic
The Bahoruco Sierra is covered under the Law of Protected Areas, but that does not seem to have bothered persons related to the highest strata of Dominican political life. The cloud forests of Bahoruco are unique for their huge biodiversity, but in the area around Los Arroyos, there are just some small patches of this exuberant foliage. Since the Sierra flows into Haiti, there is ample evidence of the terrible deforestation as just on the other side of the border there is nothing but rocks and exposed and denuded terrain.
Much of the Dominican side has now been transformed into avocado monoculture cultivation.
It took a kickstarter campaign to raise the 75,000 Euros needed to bring this 10-minute documentary to life.
The popular shoe, Tropicfeel was closely involved in the process.
Since avocados are a product in such high demand, they decided to “influence the consumer’s conscience regarding avocados in the United States and Europe, and show the consequences of illegal cultivation of this product, as well to try and avoid the deforestation of protected lands such as the Bahoruco Sierra.”
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Diario Libre
6 July 2020