Oaxaca, Mexico
Research in Oaxaca, Mexico is focusing on community institutions for local
governance, forest management and development. Oaxaca presents diverse local
institutional arrangements associated with its many indigenous
cultures and languages. Therefore it is a critical region for research into the
relationships between local institutions and higher level institutions, and how
these various institutional arrangements interact to influence processes of
change in land use/land cover and forest management.
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| Forest
sampling in Oaxaca |
CIPEC researchers have conducted fieldwork in five Zapotec
communities in the Sierra Juarez
and Central Valley of Oaxaca, all of which own important tracts
of pine-oak forest but have
implemented differing management approaches. In depth work with
forest mensuration has been completed in two communities with
similar pine-oak forests. Of these two communities, one has
implemented sustainable timber production, and the other has
prohibited timber harvesting for many years. Initial results
from this comparative research suggests that the community
forest managed under sustainable harvesting methods had better
conditions in terms of signs of regeneration, biodiversity, and
basal area. This forest did receive higher precipitation, which
favorably influenced the conditions.
By contrast, the other community forest (protected by a logging ban)
had suffered from forest fires, pine-bark beetle infestation,
and grazing by livestock from neighboring communities. This
community's residents were deeply concerned to protect their
forest watershed. They believed that a "hands-off" approach
represented the best protection, but they had begun to question
whether greater intervention and monitoring should be
implemented to control forest fires, infestation, and incursions
by neighbors' livestock. The initial findings suggest that a
complete ban on logging may be less favorable to overall forest
conditions than careful harvesting. Forests in which no
harvesting occurs tend to become dominated by old trees that can
be susceptible to infestation, and accumulate debris and dead
trees that support forest fires -- with deleterious (as well as
potentially beneficial) impacts.
Work in Oaxaca has also begun to explore the relationships between community governance institutions and processes of migration. Outmigration represents an important demographic process in many rural Oaxacan communities, with implications for land use/land cover change and forest management. CIPEC researchers aim to evaluate whether community institutions influence migration flows and remittances to communities. While major theories focus on individual factors driving the decision to migrate, community factors are rarely considered.
Many indigenous communities, however, place demands upon their residents for obligatory labor (tequios) and service through positions of responsibility and authority (cargos). Residents who do not fulfill these obligations may be subject to expulsion or revocation of rights to community resources. As a result, the decision to migrate must factor in community obligations. Remittances provide one way that migrants can compensate communities for their absence; we hypothesize that if communities can capture remittances, they may use them to support development projects. Initial research has been conducted in five communities, additional fieldwork is planned for the future.
Related CIPEC Publication
Tucker, C.M. In press. Aiming for Sustainable Community Forest Management: The Experiences of Two Communities in Mexico and Honduras. In D. Zarin, ed.
Working Forests in the Tropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management? Columbia University Press.
Tucker, C. M. In press. El deterioro de instituciones y bosques en la reserva especial de la biósfera de la mariposa monarca. ("Deterioration of community institutions and forests in the Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve"). In E. Boege, ed.
El desarrollo de la silvicultura social en México. Mexico, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Michoacán, Mexico
The Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve represents the major emphasis for CIPEC research in Michoacán, Mexico. The research explores the institutional, biophysical, historical and socioeconomic factors that influence
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| Illegal logging truck captured by community in the Monarch Butterfly Reserve;
the loggers escaped. |
forest conditions in the reserve, which protects the over-wintering habitat for the monarch butterfly. Rapid destruction of the dense fir forests in which the butterflies pass the winter led international and national interests to create the reserve. Harvesting and agriculture is strictly prohibited within the reserve, but the majority of the reserve continues to be owned by ejidos and indigenous communities that depend upon the forest for their subsistence. The government provided no compensation for communities' loss of use rights. Many communities oppose the reserve because it has reduced their legal livelihood options, resulting in a tense and conflictive context for effective forest protection and management.
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| A view
of the settlement of Cerro Prieto, Michoacan |
In collaboration with Mexican colleagues at the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), CIPEC
has conducted fieldwork in two communities with significant portions of their
land within the reserve, and contrasting community governance - one of the
communities was a mestizo ejido, with relatively few rules regarding forest use, while the indigenous Mazahua people of the other community had a history of forest-related rules and protection efforts.
Interestingly, researchers found that the community with the least rules had a relatively well-conserved forest, while the Mazahua community's forest had experienced extensive degradation. Many factors interrelated to influence the observed forest conditions, but geographic and historical variables, rather than community institutions, appeared to be most important in shaping the forests' conditions. The better-conserved forest benefited from a location that had limited access on three sides due to severe topography. The fourth side had access to a road, but the presence of a government office at that entrance impeded incursions by illegal loggers. Moreover, this forest was located at high elevations unfavorable for agriculture.
In contrast, the poorer-conserved forest was accessible by roads through neighboring communities, thus illegal loggers could enter the forest to extract timber, unobserved by residents. Historically, this forest has also experienced greater extraction of timber and non-timber products. Although the Mazahua community has endeavored to prevent logging by outsiders, it has limited resources to defend their extensive forest area against the well-armed, politically connected loggers. In several instances, the community has captured loggers and turned them over to authorities, but the loggers
have never been prosecuted.
These results suggest shortcomings at multiple levels,
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Degraded area of the core zone in the Monarch Butterfly Reserve |
but also point to the possibility of effective community enforcement efforts if higher level institutions were to provide collaborative support. Interestingly, both communities had begun to consider that the reserve might provide benefits: The community with the better-preserved forest had been able to open the forest for tourism during the butterflies' annual visit, and tourism provided the community with a much-needed source of income. As a result, this community had begun to discuss ways to assure forest conservation. The Mazahua community, whose forest had never (in known history) hosted the monarch butterfly, did not have the option of tourism. Yet it had an influential group of members who favored stricter controls for forest use, and the vast majority of the residents expressed concern for the future of the forest.
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Last Updated: May 11, 2005
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