- The raucous calls of the thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) once ricocheted through Mexico’s high-altitude pine forests, but now, their near silence has become deafening.
- Deforestation driven by drug trafficking there is violently erasing entire habitats that the birds require.
- “If deforestation and violence continue unchecked, it won’t be a species that disappears — it will be an entire ecosystem, lost to greed, crime and neglect. Will the world listen, or will this be the parrot’s final call?” a new op-ed asks.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
While supporting conservation research in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental with teams from the U.S.-based Columbia University and San Diego Zoo Global, I assisted in work involving the endangered thick-billed parrot. That experience — observing their habitat and the threats it faces — made clear how severely environmental crime and weak governance are driving biodiversity loss. This commentary is grounded in those insights and calls for urgent global attention.
Once, the raucous calls of the thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) ricocheted through Mexico’s pine forests. Now, the silence is deafening. This striking green-and-red bird, once numbering in the tens of thousands, clings to existence with as few as 840 individuals left. But its disappearance signals a larger crisis: its forest home is vanishing. Cartel-led illegal logging accelerates deforestation, stripping Mexico of its last old-growth forest strongholds. Those who resist face violence, even death.
Parrot on the brink, forest falling silent
One of the last high-altitude parrots, this species depends on old-growth pines for food, nesting and shelter. Its population has plummeted so dramatically, it is now endangered, with extinction likely within a decade if conservation fails. The decline of the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis), possibly extinct, has worsened the crisis: without this keystone species to create nesting cavities, the parrots struggle to reproduce.
But the parrot’s decline signals something larger. The Sierra Madre Occidental, a biodiversity hotspot home to black bears (Ursus americanus), jaguars (Panthera onca) and endemic species, is unravelling. Parrots disperse seeds, aiding forest regeneration. Without them, tree populations decline, triggering ecological collapse. Scientists warn Mexico is nearing a tipping point, where the loss of one species triggers the disintegration of an entire ecosystem.
Meanwhile, deforestation and drug trafficking in Mexico have become inseparable, with one crime fueling the other. Cartels use illegal logging to launder money, while cleared land becomes poppy and marijuana fields. Entire landscapes are erased under organized crime.
Satellite images reveal vast clearings, hidden airstrips and felled trees where ancient forests once stood. According to Global Forest Watch, Mexico lost 208,000 hectares (about 514,000 acres) of natural forest in 2023 alone, driving biodiversity loss and climate change.
Much of this destruction is unfolding in the parrot’s last stronghold, while climate models warn temperatures could rise by up to 5° Celsius (9° Fahrenheit) by century’s end, with 20% less rainfall turning forests into wastelands.
Global Witness reports Mexico as one of the deadliest countries for environmental defenders, with 54 murdered in 2021. Globally, 2,100 were killed between 2012 and 2023, with most being Indigenous land stewards fighting to protect their forests. Their deaths rarely make international headlines. Justice is rare and prosecutions are rarer.
In the Sierra Madre Occidental, community leaders have risked everything to expose cartel-led deforestation. Some have disappeared, others found executed in the very forests they fought to save.
A government in denial
Mexico’s environmental laws should protect the thick-billed parrot. Instead, corruption and neglect have rendered them hollow. Years of deep budget cuts have crippled Mexico’s environmental agencies, leaving illegal timber to move unchecked through a system rife with corruption, fraudulent permits and organized crime.
Up to 70% of timber in Mexico enters supply chains without extraction permits, often disguised as legal. From cartel-controlled forests to high-end furniture showrooms in the U.S. and Europe, stolen wood slips seamlessly into global markets — untraceable, yet omnipresent.
Despite the threats, conservationists and local communities are fighting back. A binational initiative protects nesting sites, tracks populations and supports forest-dependent communities. Community-led reforestation offers hope, but cartel-driven destruction is outpacing these efforts. Without stronger enforcement and sustained funding, conservation alone won’t be enough.
Reintroduction of the thick-billed parrot to the U.S. failed, and Mexico’s habitat is collapsing. Without urgent action — global pressure, secure funding and forest protection — the parrot will vanish.
If deforestation and violence continue unchecked, it won’t be a species that disappears — it will be an entire ecosystem, lost to greed, crime and neglect. Will the world listen, or will this be the parrot’s final call?
Andrew-James Anthony is a final-year environmental studies student at the Open University in the U.K., whose academic and fieldwork interests center on biodiversity loss, conservation injustice and environmental crime.
Banner image: Thick-billed parrots (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha), image courtesy of Ernesto Enkerlin-Hoeflich/OVIS.
See related commentary & coverage here at Mongabay:
Satellite ‘backpacks’ help keep track of parrot migration in Mexico
Environmental crimes are often hidden by ‘flying money’ laundering schemes (commentary)
‘Forgotten’ leopards being driven to silent extinction by poaching and trade
Citations:
García‐Jiménez, C. I., & Vargas‐Rodriguez, Y. L. (2021). Passive government, organized crime, and massive deforestation: The case of western Mexico. Conservation Science and Practice, 3(12). doi:10.1111/csp2.562
López-González, C., & García-Mendoza, D. (2024). Mammals (Tetrapoda: Mammalia) of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico: Megadiversity in an area of high environmental complexity. Acta Zoológica Mexicana, 40, 1-35. doi:10.21829/azm.2024.4012585
Ramírez-Sánchez, H. U., Fajardo-Montiel, A. L., García-Guadalupe, M. E., & Ulloa-Godínez, H. H. (2023). Climate change and its impacts on biodiversity in Mexico. Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology, 20(4), 29-54. doi:10.9734/ajee/2023/v20i4446
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