Distant political‐economic forces and global‐to‐local pathway to impacts on forests of Ejido landscapes across Yucatán, México

Abstract

Indigenous community land tenure in many locations worldwide is shifting towards individually parcelized and privatized systems. Among the drivers of this shifting land tenure are distant political-economic forces and commodity markets, from local to global. Accompanying the observed land tenure changes are shifts in livelihoods, away from subsistence-based and toward market-oriented activities. These changes can ultimately impact land use, land cover, and biodiversity conservation. We investigated a global-to-local causal pathway, from agriculture, livestock, and forestry production for distant markets, extending through shifting land tenure and livelihoods, to impacts on forest cover within ejidos (a type of community landholding) across Yucatán, México, where Maya people are the primary land managers. To reveal this causal pathway, we conducted exploratory data analysis, using ordinary least squares regression, mapped variables, and variographic analyses to assess spatial patterns and correlations. We further explored relationships among variables using spatially explicit simultaneous autoregressive models. We found that commodity production for distant markets is strongly related to parcelized ejido lands, which in turn are often deforested. Conversely, community-managed lands, which traditionally involve subsistence-based agroforestry, are much more likely to be densely forested.Overall, we conclude that recent deforestation of ejido lands across the State is, at least partly, the result of shifting land tenure and livelihoods due to the increasing presence of commodity markets. Moreover, we conclude that community-managed lands and associated subsistence livelihoods can attenuate deforestation and potentially advance forest and biodiversity conservation across México and elsewhere.

Rethinking Landscape Conservation: Linking Globalized Agriculture to Changes to Indigenous Community-Managed Landscapes

“…Currently across the State of Yucata´n, the milpa, a traditional Maya swidden system that has existed for millennia and that involves rotational cutting of forest, burning, and planting maize mixed with squash and beans, exemplifies the diverse subsistence and livelihood practices (Schmook et al, 2013). As land tenure shifts toward individual management, Maya livelihoods are transitioning away from subsistence agroforestry and agricultural ecosystems that primarily involve growing maize and are moving toward market-oriented farming production of new crops and livestock (Lawrence et al, 2019). Such a livelihood transition is counter to the Maya people's indigenous traditional knowledge regarding the use, management, and conservation of their lands that have been passed down across generations for millennia (Puc-Alcocer, Arce-Ibarra, Cortina-Villar, & Estrada-Lugo, 2019).…”

“…In Lawrence, Morreale, and Stedman (2019), the authors empirically analyze global-to-local linkages that stem from processes of globalized agriculture and drive changes to indigenous (Maya) communitymanaged landscapes across Yucata´n, Me´xico. Our objective in this article is to complement Lawrence et al, which emphasized spatial aspects of change, by broadening the scope and providing a broader conceptual approach to guide additional research on this topic.…”

Drivers of forest cover transitions in the Selva Maya, Mexico: Integrating regional and community scales for landscape assessment

“…The link between large‐scale tropical deforestation in Latin America and international corporate agricultural trade demonstrate teleconnections between distant locations (Henders & Ostwald, 2014; Munroe et al, 2019). These complex inter‐relationships of environmental, socioeconomic, and institutional factors, operating from global to local scales (Lawrence, Motreale, & Stedman, 2019), have brought challenges in identifying drivers of forest cover change in the tropics.…”

“…These complex inter-relationships of environmental, socioeconomic, and institutional factors, operating from global to local scales (Lawrence, Motreale, & Stedman, 2019), have brought challenges in identifying drivers of forest cover change in the tropics.…”

“…Mayan traditional slash-and-burn agriculture and natural resource management practices are based on forest conservation principles balanced with sustainable food production(G omez- Pompa, 1987;Merino, 2004), leading to greater conservation. Onthe-other-hand, Immigrants, most arriving since the 1970s from other regions of Mexico or the World (e.g., Mennonites), generally practice cattle ranching and agriculture for commercial purposes, and these communities also tend to parcel and privatize community lands(DiGiano et al, 2013;Ellis, Romero Montero, Hern andez G omez, Porter-Bolland, & Ellis, 2017;Lawrence et al, 2019). In western Mexico, livestock management and marginalized conditions were associated with forest degradation(Morales-Barquero et al, 2014), and poverty was associated with deforestation and degradation in Vietnam(Van Khuc et al, 2018).…”