Vulnerabilities and Threats to Natural Forest Regrowth: Land Tenure Reform, Land Markets, Pasturelands, Plantations, and Urbanization in Indigenous Communities in Mexico

Abstract

Despite the economic and social costs of national and international efforts to restore millions of hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes, results have not met expectations due to land tenure conflicts, land-use transformation, and top-down decision-making policies. Privatization of land, expansion of cattle raising, plantations, and urbanization have created an increasingly competitive land market, dispossessing local communities and threatening forest conservation and regeneration. In contrast to significant investments in reforestation, natural regrowth, which could contribute to landscape regeneration, has not been sufficiently promoted by national governments. This study analyzes socio-ecological and economic vulnerabilities of indigenous and other peasant communities in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Chiapas, and Morelos related to the inclusion of natural regeneration in their forest cycles. While these communities are located within protected areas (Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, El Tepozteco National Park, and Chichinautzin Biological Corridor), various threats and vulnerabilities impede natural regeneration. Although landscape restoration involves complex political, economic, and social relationships and decisions by a variety of stakeholders, we focus on communities’ vulnerable land rights and the impacts of privatization on changes in land use and forest conservation. We conclude that the social, economic, political, and environmental vulnerabilities of the study communities threaten natural regeneration, and we explore necessary changes for incorporating this process in landscape restoration.

Mexican agricultural frontier communities differ in forest dynamics with consequences for conservation and restoration

“…Other studies instead found no difference between communally and privately owned lands in Mexico, which was attributed to differences in community organization and marginalization (Bunge‐Vivier & Martínez‐Ballesté, 2017; Ellis et al., 2017). These results warrant that the Neoliberal discourse stimulating private ownership may accelerate forest loss in this region, as recently demonstrated for Mexico (Lazos‐Chavero et al., 2021), as well as globally (Davis et al., 2020). Results suggests that conservation programmes should ensure benefits for the community and not only target individuals.…”

“…We studied Marqu es de Comillas region (MdC), a dynamic agricultural frontier located in the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot in the humid tropics of Mexico. MdC provides a suitable natural experiment of landscape change in a colonization context because colonization was recent (1970's-1980's), rapid, had big consequences for forest cover, and the region is representative of many such frontier areas in the tropics (Lepers et al, 2005).…”

Mexican agricultural frontier communities differ in forest dynamics with consequences for conservation and restoration

“…Other studies instead found no difference between communally and privately owned lands in Mexico, which was attributed to differences in community organization and marginalization (Bunge-Vivier & Mart ınez-Ballest e, 2017; Ellis et al, 2017). These results warrant that the Neoliberal discourse stimulating private ownership may accelerate forest loss in this region, as recently demonstrated for Mexico (Lazos-Chavero et al, 2021), as well as globally (Davis et al, 2020). Results suggests that conservation programmes should ensure benefits for the community and not only target individuals.…”