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CANNABIS IN LATIN AMERICA: THE BLOOM OF AN INDUSTRY UNDER A NEW PARADIGM With the legalization of Cannabis and hemp cultivation in several countries of Latin América occurring at frantic speed, it is important to discuss the impact of this type of cultivation on the environment; currently, in other productive regions, indoor cultivation has been privileged with the elaboration of products considered as Premium, which may result in both economic and environmental high costs.
Ana Lucía González, Allegra Piaccentini, Francisco de Landero and Gerardo Garza Sustainable Development Committee – Cannabis and Hemp Mexican Board Gerardo Garza Villarreal. Founding entrepreneur of Biodynamics Lab, a company specialized in the research and development of molecular biology applications and advanced materials. Co-inventor of an agrobiotechnology patent. Currently developing projects for the cannabis sector.
| RESEARCH
In some states of the US such as Colorado, it has been observed that the indoor Cannabis cultivation sector pollutes even more than the coal industry. According to greenhouse effect gas emission studies on Cannabis production, 1 kg of indoorcultivated dried Cannabis flower delivers between 2,283 and 5,184 Kg of CO2. This significant variation in numbers is directly attributed to the different power sources used in the cultivation. It is recommended to invest in sustainable power sources to reduce the carbon footprint since CO2 discharges caused by indoor farming systems can be reduced by 42% using greenhouse systems and up to 96% implementing open-field production systems. Reducing the carbon footprint is not the only issue to resolve in order to achieve a sustainable industry. Besides measuring and mitigating the polluting gas discharges, it is critical to maintaining the Sustainable Development Global Objectives, raised in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda as a comprehensive reference in the plotting of the regulatory strategy for this new industry. The transition towards a bio-economy will be the path to achieve the change of structural paradigm in Latin America and the rest of the world, needed to fulfill the Sustainable Development Global Objectives on schedule. This transition must be driven by efficient agricultural and rural development policies aimed to intelligently specialize lands.
