The Multiple Use of Tropical Forests by Indigenous Peoples in Mexico: a Case of Adaptive Management

Toledo, Víctor M.; Ortiz-Espejel, Benjamín; Cortés, Leni; Moguel, Patricia; Ordoñez, María de Jesús

doi:10.5751/es-00524-070309

Cited by 210 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This perception is being challenged by numerous studies, which show that shifting cultivation in many situations can be a rational economic and environmental choice for poor farmers in the tropics (Toledo et al, 2003;Ickowitz, 2006;Nielsen et al, 2006;Harvey et al, 2008). Our results support the view that shifting cultivation can have a transitory impact on forest carbon stocks and may contribute to the maintenance of ecosystem services, such as carbon reservoirs in human-modified landscapes (Ickowitz, 2006;Fischer et al, 2008;Harvey et al, 2008;DeClerck et al, 2010;Padoch & Pinedo-Vasquez, 2010).…”

Section: Accepted Articlesupporting

confidence: 78%

Traditional shifting agriculture: tracking forest carbon stock and biodiversity through time in western Panama

Pelletier

Codjia

Potvin

2012

Global Change Biology

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Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) requires developing countries to quantify green-house gas emissions and removals from forests in a manner that is robust, transparent, and as accurate as possible. While shifting cultivation is a dominant practice in several developing countries, there is still very limited information available on how to monitor this land-use practice for REDD+ as little is known about the areas of shifting cultivation or the net carbon balance. In the present work, we propose and test a methodology to monitor the effect of the shifting cultivation on above-ground carbon stocks. We combine multi-year remote sensing information, taken from a 12-year period, with an in-depth community forest carbon stock inventory in Palo Seco Forest Reserve, western Panama. With remote sensing, we were able to separate four forest classes expressing different forest-use intensity and timesince-intervention which demonstrate expected trends in above-ground carbon stocks. The addition of different interventions observed over time is shown to be a good predictor, with remote sensing variables explaining 64.2% of the variation in forest carbon stocks in cultivated landscapes. Multi-temporal and multi-spectral medium resolution satellite imagery is shown to be adequate for tracking land-use dynamics of the agriculture-fallow cycle. The results also indicate that, over time, shifting cultivation has a transitory effect on forest carbon stocks in the study area. This is due to the rapid recovery of forest carbon stocks, which results in limited net emissions. Finally, community participation yielded important additional benefits to measuring

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Section: Accepted Articlesupporting

confidence: 78%

Traditional shifting agriculture: tracking forest carbon stock and biodiversity through time in western Panama

Pelletier

Codjia

Potvin

2012

Global Change Biology

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“…Estas formas de agricultura podrían tener una antigüedad de 4,500 años (Rojas Rabiela, 1991). Actualmente este tipo de sistemas se distribuye en terrenos montañosos de laderas muy pronunciadas, principalmente en el bosque tropical caducifolio de los estados de Morelos, Guerrero, Oaxaca y Michoacán; así como en las áreas planas con pendientes suaves del bosque tropical con suelos delgados y pobres; y en las regiones con suelos calcáreos, como es la Penínsu-la de Yucatán (Rojas Rabiela, 1991;Toledo et al, 2003). Estos son sistemas agroforestales debido a que: (a) cuando se roza la vegetación, suelen dejarse en pie árboles y arbustos silvestres o sus tocones que pueden rebrotar, lo que facilita la recuperación del bosque y el aprovechamiento de las especies que se dejan en pie (Rojas Rabiela, 1991).…”

Section: Resultsunclassified

“…La complejidad de la estrategia maya de manejo múltiple y de las técnicas silvícolas no está sólo presente en los sistemas agroforestales de milpa; es más bien complemento de otros sistemas y técnicas presentes en su territorio. El estudio de Gómez-Pompa (1987) por ejemplo, documenta prácticas silvícolas relacionadas como la introducción de árboles útiles a los cenotes, la germinación de semillas, la siembra de árboles, la selección de árboles de especies silvestres en los huertos mayas, la conservación de parches de vegetación y la selección e introducción de especies útiles en los bosques o selvas (Rojas Rabiela, 1991;Remmers y De Koeijer, 1992;Remmers y Ucan, 1996;Toledo et al, 2003Barrera-Bassols y Toledo, 2005).…”

Section: Los Sistemas Agroforestales Tradicionales De México: Una Aprunclassified

Los sistemas agroforestales tradicionales de México: Una aproximación biocultural

2013

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3Autora para la correspondencia isabel_moreno@enesmorelia.unam.mxResumen: Se revisó información de diferentes fuentes para caracterizar la diversidad biocultural de los principales sistemas agroforestales tradicionales de México, desarrollados en distintos contextos culturales y ecológicos. Se analizaron los factores que los favorecen y aquellos que los amenazan. Se propone una clasifi cación general de los sistemas que considera su ubicación espacial, la intensidad de manejo del sistema y el contexto ecológico y biocultural en el que se desarrollan. Para ilustrar los distintos tipos de sistemas se revisan el tlacolol de Guerrero, la kool de la Península de Yucatán, el metepantle de Tlaxcala, las chinampas del Valle de México, el calal del suroeste de Tlaxcala, el sistema milpa-cactáceas columnares del Valle de Tehuacán, el huamil en Guanajuato, los oasis de la Península de Baja California, el kuojtakiloyan en la Sierra Norte de Puebla, el te´lom en San Luis Potosí, los cacaotales de la Chontalpa en Tabasco y del Soconusco en Chiapas, el ekuaro de Michoacán, los patios de Oaxaca y los solares de Puebla y Yucatán. Se discuten los benefi cios ecológicos y económicos de estos sistemas y se proponen estrategias que permitan apoyar los procesos locales y regionales en defensa de la diversidad biocultural. Palabras clave: etnoecología, manejo de plantas, Mesoamérica, sistemas agrícolas tradicionales. Abstract:We reviewed information about traditional agroforestry systems of Mexico and its biocultural diversity. The review included the slash and burn agricultural systems: kool in the Yucatán Peninsula and tlacolol in Guerrero; the terrace called metepantli in Tlaxcala; the drained fi elds chinampa in the Valley of México and calal in southwestern Tlaxcala; the arid land systems milpa-chichipera in the Tehuacan Valley, huamil in Guanajuato and oasis (oases) in the Baja California Peninsula; the agroforests kuojtakiloyan in the Northern Sierra of Puebla, te´lom in San Luis Potosí and cacaotales in Soconusco region in Chiapas and Chontalpa region in Tabasco; and the homegardens ekuaro in Michoacán and other homegardens in Puebla, Oaxaca and Yucatán. The discussion emphasizes the importance of traditional agroforestry systems and strategies for their maintenance.

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“…Authors like Toledo et al (2003Toledo et al ( , 2008 gave empirical evidence of adaptive management among different indigenous communities living in the Tropical areas of Mexico. This adaptive management was associated with the maintenance of a multiple strategy for using natural resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responding to disturbances: lessons from a Mayan socio-ecological system

González-Cruz¹,

Garcı́a-Frapolli²,

Casas

et al. 2015

Int J Commons

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Abstract:The Mayans of the Yucatán Peninsula, together with their environment, conform social-ecological systems with adaptation and resilience to natural, political and economic disturbances. In this study, we use the framework of socialecological systems for describing a mechanism that allows a Mayan community and its natural environment to respond to disturbances over time. We describe (1) the activities that members of the community develop as part of their strategy for managing natural resource management, and (2) the history of the socialecological system focusing on meaningful events: changes in their institutional body, landscape and/or practices for exploiting natural resources, and interactions between these changes. Through both semi-structured and in-depth interviews, historical narratives and participant observation, we found that managers use the environmental heterogeneity to diversify the exploitation of species, manage the secondary vegetation and protect mature vegetation. Formal and informal institutions of access, regulation and administration of natural resources regulate 832 Gabriela González-Cruz et al.productive activities and management practices. These institutions operate differentially at the levels of environmental units (prohibition of the exploitation of the natural resources of mature tropical forests) and species (protection of the jaguar and cougar). Diversification of productive activities, management of environmental heterogeneity and the presence of flexible institutions enable responses in the social-ecological systems that have the potential to contribute to its long-term maintenance. Comprehensive studies like this might help to understand adaptive capacity and social-ecological resilience.

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The Multiple Use of Tropical Forests by Indigenous Peoples in Mexico: a Case of Adaptive Management

Cited by 210 publications

References 17 publications

Traditional shifting agriculture: tracking forest carbon stock and biodiversity through time in western Panama

Traditional shifting agriculture: tracking forest carbon stock and biodiversity through time in western Panama

Los sistemas agroforestales tradicionales de México: Una aproximación biocultural

Responding to disturbances: lessons from a Mayan socio-ecological system

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