Understanding the Interaction of Rural People with Ecosystems: A Case Study in a Tropical Dry Forest of Mexico

Castillo, Alicia; Magaña, Antonieta; Pujadas, Anna; Martínez, Lucía; Godínez, Carmen

doi:10.1007/s10021-005-0127-1

Cited by 111 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…As Jackson et al (2007) note, increasing agrobiodiversity in agriculture is only partially related to the maintenance of ecosystem services at the farm level, although farmers do not tend to perceive the "external" benefits of conservation at wider scales. At present, analyses of the perceptions of services and their interactions (Castillo et al 2005, Martín-López et al 2012) are often separate from those dealing with the biophysical quantification of services; further research is needed at the intersection of these variables.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem service trade-offs, perceived drivers, and sustainability in contrasting agroecosystems in central Mexico

González-Esquivel¹,

Gavito²,

Astier³

et al. 2015

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The ability of agroecosystems to provide food ultimately depends on the regulating and supporting ecosystem services that underpin their functioning, such as the regulation of soil quality, water quality, soil erosion, pests, and pollinators. However, there are trade-offs between provisioning and regulating or supporting services, whose nature at the farm and plot scales is poorly understood. We analyzed data at the farm level for two agroecosystems with contrasting objectives in central Mexico: one aimed at staple crop production for self-subsistence and local markets, the other directed to a cash crop for export markets. Bivariate and multivariate tradeoffs were analyzed for different crop management strategies (conventional, organic, traditional, crop rotation) and their underpinning socioeconomic drivers. There was a clear trade-off between crop yield and soil quality in self-subsistence systems. However, other expected trade-offs between yields and soil quality did not always occur, likely because of the overall good soils of the region and the low to medium input profile of most farms. Trade-offs were highly dependent on farm-specific agricultural practices; organic, traditional, and rotation management systems generally showed smaller trade-offs between yield and soil quality, pest control, and biodiversity than did conventional management systems. Perceived drivers reported by farmers included increasing prices for cash crops, rising costs of inputs, and extreme climatic events (e.g., drought, hail, frost). Farmers did not identify the regulation of soil quality, water quality, soil erosion, pests, or pollinators as important constraints. Although acceptable yields could be maintained irrespective of key regulating and supporting services according to these perceptions, current levels of soil erosion and nutrient runoff are likely to have important negative effects at the watershed scale. Sustainability in both agroecosystems could be increased substantially by promoting alternative practices aimed at maintaining biodiversity, soil quality, and soil retention.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem service trade-offs, perceived drivers, and sustainability in contrasting agroecosystems in central Mexico

González-Esquivel¹,

Gavito²,

Astier³

et al. 2015

E&S

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“…Cattle ranching inside dry and wet tropical forests, oak forests, and mixed pine-oak forests has been widely practiced in the country since colonial times [22]. Sustainable use of the grasslands' carrying capacity is achieved by constant rotations and management of herds; however, soil compaction is a common problem, as well as frequent wildfires resulting from the ranchers' practice of using fire to induce re-budding of grasses [23].…”

Section: Management For Nontimber Forest Products and Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Forest Management in Mexico

2016

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Forest management in Mexico is immersed in diverse and complex ecological, socio-cultural, political, economic, and technological contexts. These contexts have led to the use of the forests for many purposes under diverse administration and management schemes. These schemes continue to evolve, both in the forest areas and in universities and forest research institutions throughout the country. Timber management has been part of this evolution and has given rise to several forest management approaches. Most of these approaches are adaptations of methods developed in other parts of the world for very different ecological, socio-cultural, and economic contexts. The majority of the timber management methods are based on sustainability principles and incorporate classical yield regulation and forest management concepts. However, the application of these methods in the complex and rapidly changing contexts in which the Mexican forests and forestry sector are immersed has resulted in unexpected and fortuitous results. There is a need for a new significant evolution of the forest and timber management methods in the country. New approaches must include greater emphasis on communitybased forestry, consideration of markets for forest products and services, as well as the overall increase of resilience, learning capacity, and adaptation while reducing hazards, risks, and vulnerability of the forests and the communities that depend on them. These characteristics will allow better adaptation to the rapid changes, complexities, and ambiguities of the global environment and the Mexican ecological, social, political, and economic conditions.

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“…Although some research has been done in Latin America, including some useful efforts to build GIS supply and demand mapping tools for woodfuel (for example, Ghilardi et al 2009), it often covers multiple forest types. Little of the work specific to dry forests takes fuel as the main topic, and rarely is it quantitative (see Turc and Mazzucco 1998;Castillo et al 2005). However, it seems that in the Americas fuel is usually the most important resource derived from the forest, with heavy usage by the poor (de Albuquerque et al 2005;Lucena et al 2007;del Castillo et al 2011;Suárez et al 2012).…”

Section: Suggested Geographic Priorities Asia Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%