Mexico's Community‐Managed Forests as a Global Model for Sustainable Landscapes

Abstract

Researchers concerned with sustainable management of forests in the tropics have argued that the road to improved stewardship of forest resources is the transfer of responsibility to the local communities

Embedding Carbon Markets: Complicating Commodification of Ecosystem Services in Mexico's Forests

“…This forest tenure structure has led to and supports a robust system of community-conserved areas and sustainable management for timber production, although the extent of these activities varies considerably by region (Bray et al 2003;Martin et al 2011). Although it has slowed by 55 percent from the previous decade, the average rate of deforestation from 1990 to 2010 was approximately 0.39 percent annually (Food and Agriculture Organization 2015), with land use change broadly contributing an estimated 3.34 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions (World Resources Institute 2016).…”

“…There are sixteen distinct indigenous groups in the state, which is one of the few in Mexico to legally recognize indigenous customary law and governance practices, and approximately 80 percent of the territory is held communally as legally recognized nucleos agrarios (Gonzalez Rıos 2011). Unlike Chiapas, the functionality of governance at the community level, as well as strong state-level umbrella organizations and NGOs, has led to robust systems of and experience with natural resource management and protection, including community forestry, cooperative coffee, and community protected areas (Bray et al 2003;Gonzalez Rıos 2011). (Bray 2012).…”

Updating Bark Proportions for the Estimation of Tropical Timber Volumes by Indigenous Community-Based Forest Enterprises in Quintana Roo, Mexico

“…Approximately 60% of Mexico's forested area (including both temperate and tropical forests) is managed by local communities [11]. This depth of experience has made Mexico a leading example of community-based forest management [12]. Among Mexican wet tropical forests, those in the state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula stand out because of their great extent (4.4 Mha; [13,14]) and their high degree of conservation, which has been attributed to their three decades under community-based management [15][16][17].…”

Community Structure and Plant Diversity of Community Based Religious Conserved Forests of Garhwal Himalaya, India

“…Over the past few decades, the view that biodiversity rich areas partially or largely managed by local residents, sometimes referred to as community-conserved areas (CCAs), can be effective in saving species from extinction, has gained considerable ground [13,14]. Several ecological studies have been carried out in sacred forest patches.…”