The ‘invisible pest’ that threatens to wipe out country’s beloved palm trees
The race against time to save iconic palm trees from tiny bug
- Uruguay's iconic palm trees are facing a devastating attack from the red palm weevil, a 5-centimetre insect that arrived from Southeast Asia in 2022.
- The pest has already devoured thousands of palms across the country, with half of Montevideo's 19,000 trees now infected.
- The weevil causes trees to collapse within weeks by boring into trunks and allowing larvae to tunnel and consume internal tissue.
- Despite initial delays, Uruguayan authorities have now declared the fight against the weevil a "national priority," allocating funds for pesticides and other control methods.
- There are growing fears that the weevil could spread to native trees in Uruguay's UNESCO biosphere reserve and potentially across the South American continent.