Redefining Secondary Forests in the Mexican Forest Code: Implications for Management, Restoration, and Conservation

Abstract

Abstract:The Mexican Forest Code establishes structural reference values to differentiate between secondary and old-growth forests and requires a management plan when secondary forests become old-growth and potentially harvestable forests. The implications of this regulation for forest management, restoration, and conservation were assessed in the context of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which is located in the Yucatan Peninsula. The basal area and stem density thresholds currently used by the legislation to differentiate old-growth from secondary forests are 4 m 2 /ha and 15 trees/ha (trees with a diameter at breast height of >25 cm); however, our research indicates that these values should be increased to 20 m 2 /ha and 100 trees/ha, respectively. Given that a management plan is required when secondary forests become old-growth forests, many landowners avoid forest-stand development by engaging slash-and-burn agriculture or cattle grazing. We present evidence that deforestation and land degradation may prevent the natural regeneration of late-successional tree species of high ecological and economic importance. Moreover, we discuss the results of this study in the light of an ongoing debate in the Yucatan Peninsula between policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 979 landowners and researchers, regarding the modification of this regulation to redefine the concept of acahual (secondary forest) and to facilitate forest management and restoration with valuable timber tree species.

Assessment of Land Use-Cover Changes and Successional Stages of Vegetation in the Natural Protected Area Altas Cumbres, Northeastern Mexico, Using Landsat Satellite Imagery

“…Nevertheless, we suggest that future studies performed in this or any other area could be improved by using more than one image (whenever available) per year of classification. Furthermore, it is highly recommended to conduct future evaluations in different sites of the study area that allow for the measurement of vegetation characteristics associated with the successional time, such as density of plants, diameter at breast height, or basal area [82], so that the patterns here proposed can be corroborated.…”

Successional and seasonal variation in litterfall and associated nutrient transfer in semi-evergreen tropical forests of SE Mexico

“…Slash-and-burn agriculture is still one of the major land uses for Mayan farmers in southeastern Mexico (Schmook et al 2013). One of the key challenges for modern ecologists is to understand the patterns, processes and pathways of carbon cycling in transitional forests at fine spatial and temporal scales (Thuille and Schulze 2006;Malhi 2012), as lack of understanding of forest functioning can lead to inappropriate management and governance strategies for these transitional forest frontiers in the tropics (Román-Dañobeytia et al 2014).…”

Current Challenges and Perspectives for Governing Forest Restoration

“…The paper by Román-Dañobeytia et al [37] evaluated the relevance of the rigidly applied reference values in the current forestry law that defines what a secondary forest is. They suggest that these standard values limit potential management actions in the Yucatán Peninsula.…”