Biodiversity Loss: The Ecological Cost of Tobacco Farming
Tobacco farming drives deforestation, habitat loss, and biodiversity decline—particularly in biodiversity hotspots like the Miombo woodlands of southern Africa. The ecological cost of tobacco is externalized, unmeasured, and largely ignored.
The Miombo woodlands of southern Africa—a biodiversity hotspot home to iconic species—are being cleared for tobacco farming and curing. The deforestation rate in tobacco-growing regions exceeds the national average. **The ecological cost of tobacco—deforestation, habitat loss, biodiversity decline—is externalized to the communities and ecosystems that bear it. The cost is not measured, not regulated, and not incorporated into the price of the cigarette. The consumer pays for the product. The environment pays for the production.**
