Browsing by Author "Merino, Leticia"

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Commons Theory and Collective Forest Property in Mexico: When Formal Recognition of Local Rights is Important, But Not Enough
(2011) Ortiz, Gabriela; Merino, Leticia
"Collective action theory and 'the commons approach' are particularly relevant for Mexico, the first country in the world where collective property was recognized by the state, through an extended Agrarian Reform implemented from the 1930‘s to the 1980‘s. Today, more than 60% of the country is owned by communities. Collective tenure is particularly important in forest regions where it accounts for more than 70% of the lands; on the other hand, 90% of communal lands are forested. During the last thirty years collective property and community‘s social capital have sustained the coming to light of numerous community forest enterprises, such as producers of timber, resin, and bottled water; have been providers of ecological and recreational services. Where this process has taken place, community members have had incentives to invest in sustainability, participate in collective action which is required for forest management and local governance, and at the same time, local institutions and social capital have also strengthened. Successful forest community enterprises in Mexico are clear examples of key impacts due to the official recognition of property rights to local communities on the sustainability of the commons. However, these cases only account for less than 20% of the common forests in Mexico. The others face a wide range of problems such as land-use change, forest fires, illegal logging, illegal cropping, and intense migration. We propose that both historically and at present the incomplete 'devolution' or recognition of property rights has been a critical factor for this failure. More often than not communities receive formal rights, but the federal government keeps on managing them and even uses rights in forests or areas where logging concessions were granted to outsiders. Even today more than 20% of Mexico's forests are placed within the borders of protected areas where communities have lost means of livelihoods and have little to say in the governance of these territories. The lack of nesting among the central government actions and the local efforts has impeded the development of appropriate rules and effective monitoring and sanctioning in most of Mexico's forest areas. We argue that full recognition of local rights and the strengthening of local productive and institutional capacities should be considered central axis of policies that aim to contribute to the sustainability and resilience of forest commons."
The Contractual Regulation of Access to Biological Resources and Genetic Plant Information: An Agreement Between Mexican Communities and a Multinational Bio-Prospecting Concern
(2002) Kissling-Näf, Ingrid; Baruffol, Ueli; Biber-Klemm, Susette; Merino, Leticia
"The paper deals with the question of the ownership, use and protection of biological resources with a high potential market value. While the Convention on Biological Diversity has been developed at international level to halt the rapid loss of biodiversity (international regime), bottom-up approaches also exist whereby communities negotiate with bio-prospecting multinational firms. "The paper analyses a success story in Mexico wherby Sandoz, a multinational Swiss chemicals concern, concluded a contract with four Mexican communities governing the access to and use of raw plant material. The contract and process surrounding its establishment are studied and questions such as the appropriate consideration of local people, access and the sharing of benefits are examined. The paper concludes with an account of the conditions necessary for knowledge transfer and the success of bio-prospecting agreements."
Demographic Factors That Make More Complex the Management of the Natural Commons Resources in Three Forest Regions of Mexico
(2010) Martínez Romero, Ana Eugenia; Merino, Leticia
"This paper is a brief analysis of a demographic profile of the owners of forest land communally owned and the characteristics of the collective property lands in Mexico. The aim of this study was to identify the out-migration processes in the management of natural common resources. We observed the existence of an under-representation of young people and women in the decision processes about their land management and community resources. We will present the findings of case studies conducted in three forest regions located in 'Low mountain region' in Guerrero, 'Sierra Norte' and 'Sierra Sur' of Oaxaca. Also, we will discuss how demographic factors, such as migration processes, create an environment that make the management of common natural resources more complex."
The Local Tragedies of Global Climate Policies: Which Kind of Governance, Which Kind of Knowledge?
(2012) Merino, Leticia
"The challenges identified by those who have thought on climate change and the difficulties of mitigation efforts from a commons perspective relate to: Global Climate and Global Climate Regulation Process as Commons. The capacity of the Earth System to regulate the climate can be considered as a shared 'good'. Global climate regulation and the reduction of carbon emissions are dependent on the decisions of multiple actors. The governance of 'climate commons' demands collective action, cooperation and coordination of multiple actors in diverse scales, among whom profound social and political inequalities do exist. Ostrom defined Climate change as a global public bad from which nobody can be excluded. Consequently the initiatives to revert it -- as in the case of public goods -- face 'provision problems': nobody has incentives to take costly actions to avoid negative externalities. Free riding is frequent, as experienced by participants of the Kyoto Protocol, costly measures taken by some actors create global benefits, including those who did not 'cooperate', eroding global credibility and social capital. The complex nature of the processes. There is a great degree of uncertainty, a large gap in terms of knowledge and perception of the causal relations of many actions -- in terms of their carbon footprint -- and outcomes in terms of concrete climatic events and their impacts. There are also profound differences regarding access to information, interests and preferences among relevant actors aggravating problems of freeriding and unwillingness to cooperate. The global and multi-scale nature of the processes. Since climate change is a global process, most recommendations refer to global solutions, and only to global solutions. Sub-national scales, particularly local scales are mostly left aside in terms of governance and agency, even if it is widely accepted that climate change results from 'nested externalities' the accumulation of the impacts of local and regional actions."
Reflections about European and non European commons, from an American perspective
(2006) Merino, Leticia
"I have tried to organize a general comparison of European and non European commons, following four main general themes addressed by many of the papers presented in the conference: - the understanding of what private property is and the historical weight of private property, - the historical important of the state in the management of the commons versus their management by local communities, - the processes of decentralization and or devolution of rights over territories and natural resources."
Report on the Tenth Biennial Conference of the IASCP, Oaxaca, Mexico
(2004) Robson, James; Merino, Leticia
"The Conference was a tremendous success with 662 registered participants from 63 different countries congregating in Oaxaca, Mexico for a 5-day meeting of 128 panels, 9 side events, 35 poster presentations, 8 pre-conference workshops, and 11 field trips. Although not confirmed, we believe this to have been the best attended IASCP conference to date. This is a great achievement and testament to the global appeal of the conference's themes and of a very successful Call for Papers."
Reserva Especial de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca: Problematica General de la Region
(1997) Merino, Leticia
"Hasta ahora la mariposa monarca (Danaus plexippus) es considerada por los especialistas como una especie exitosa. Presenta una amplia distribucion geografica en el notre del coninente americano y ha conquistado incluso otros territorios en las islas Canarias y Azores, asi como en Australia y en el sudeste asiatico, sitios adonde ha illegado gracias a la dispersion via barcos mercantes. Especie que puede desplazarse hasta 120 km por dia, merced a su amplia tolerancia a diversos ambientes se le encuentra en un rango altitudinal que va desde el nivel del mar hasta los 2,700 m (De la Maza, 1995). La migracion de la poblacion norteamericana se desencadena por la reduccion del periodo de duracion de la luz solar en el hemisferio norte, a partir de septiembre, asi como por la progresiva presencia de masas de aire polar que disminuyen la temperatura e impiden el crecimiento de las plantas de las que se alimentan las larvas. Su movimiento migratorio se realiza durante el dia y sigue las corrientes de aire ascendentes para ahorrar energia durante el traslado."
Rights, Pressures and Conservation in Forest Regions in Mexico: Conditions of Communities in Temperate Forest Regions of Mexico
(2010) Merino, Leticia; Martínez, Ana Eugenia
"For decades forests and forest policy have had an important place in public debates in Mexico. Among the urban population-–the vast majority of the country--it is generally thought that deforestation is intense and widespread all through National territory, collective property and rural poverty are often seen as the main Culp rights. Deforestation and forest deterioration are still frequent realities in many poor regions they cannot be properly understood through simple equations. Simplified perceptions of socio-environmental realities working as presumptions for public policies or as panaceas often misread local realities and let local needs unanswered. Based on the results of empirical research this paper presents some of the main demographic, social and economic characteristics of Mexican forest communities, the main tenure features, uses of the forests and their perception of forest pressures. Considering these conditions I reflect on the roll that communities play in the offer of forest eco-systemic services and on the characteristics of REDD related initiatives that may draw on communities strengths and would on its turn strengthen local capacities."
Rights, Pressures and Conservation in Forest Regions of Mexico
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) Merino, Leticia; de Castro, Fabio; Hogenboom, Barbara; Baud, Michiel
"The drivers of environmental degradation and the strategies to counter them are the subjects of heated debate. Several conceptual and policy approaches consider the key factors of this degradation to be the weakness and instability of property rights over natural resources. The commons perspective, on the other hand, emphasizes the viability and potential of the self-governance of shared resources such as forests. This perspective calls for a better understanding of the roles of local users and their institutions – understood as 'rules in use' – with regard to natural resources. In this literature, collective action is understood as cooperation and coordination to solve collective dilemmas related to the management of the commons. The influence of the commons perspective goes beyond academia, gaining recognition among some international funders, environmental agencies and practitioners. It follows the repeated failures of previous efforts of international aid to halt deforestation through the support of governmental agencies."
Rights, Pressures and Conservation in Forest Regions of Mexico: The Results of a Survey on the Conditions of Community Forests
(2009) Merino, Leticia; Martínez, Ana Eugenia
"For decades forests debate has had an important place in public debates in Mexico. The predominant image of the country's forest is that of a generalized deforestation, accompanied by diagnoses that blame collective property and rural poverty. It is true that deforestation and forest deterioration are frequent realities in many poor Mexican regions, but these processes cannot be understood in their diversity and complexity, through simple equations and reductionistic approaches. Simplified perceptions of socio-environmental realities become worrisome on their turn, when they work as unquestioned presumptions for public policies. Panaceas created and proposed from centralized arenas, foreign to local realities have often result in scare or no capacity to address specific problems and needs. "In the following pages we present some of the main demographic, social and economic characteristics of these communities, their uses of the forests and their perception on forest pressures. We also include a brief description of forest policies during the 2000 decade and their general impacts on forestry. Based on the results of empirical research, this work seeks to provide information and insights for a more comprehensive understanding of Mexican forest communities, closer to the particular conditions of forest communities."
Social Deterioration and Environmental Degradation of Four Woodland Regions in Guerrero State, Mexico
(2000) Merino, Leticia
"As of the late nineties, forests cover 48% of Guerrero State (3,132,854 ha.). During the last 30 years, Guerrero has lost around 50% of the forests it had in the early sixties. The majority of the land in this state, and the vast majority of its forest area, are property of ejidos and indigenous communities. The majority of the forest area of Guerrero is undergoing logging operations, most of which are not performed by forest communities, communities that sustain frequent conflicts and poor benefits from them. In this paper I consider five big forest regions in Guerrero: Costa Grande, Costa Chica, Filo Mayor, la Montaña, and la Cuenca del Río Balsas. Most of the communities in these region live under conditions of severe poverty, which are worsened by lack of roads in most of the mountain areas. "As in other states of Mexico, forests in Guerrero were logged for decades by foreign and Mexican enterprises, in spite of the property rights that local communities held. During the sixties and seventies forests in Costa Grande were under concession to the state enterprise 'Forestal Vicente Guerrero' (FOVIGRO). In the early eighties several communities formed the Coalición de Ejidos y Comunidades de la Costa Grande fighting for the end of the concession of their forests. When FOVIGRO was finally dismantled in 1986, these same communities created the Unión de Ejidos Forestales Hermenegildo Galeana. The main propose of this organization was, and still is, to provide support to the ejidos in developing their own forest operations and industries. "Guerrero faces serious problems related to: the presence of a strong authoritarian structure in the rural areas (caciquizmo), with strong ties to the state and the country's political power, which leads to frequent political violence; the presence and increasing importance of drug cultivation in the forest regions; and strong land tenure conflicts, especially acute in the indigenous regions and communities. For the purposes of this work it is also important to mention as a problem the effects of governmental neglect of the rural and forest sector, at the state and country levels. "These conditions have had serious impacts on the every day life of rural communities, their institutions and also their forest ecosystems. While these impacts are large in the five forest regions, they are more dramatic in the indigenous regions of la Montaña and Costa Chica. In Costa Grande the presence of a regional autonomous organization has helped communities to maintain forest enterprises, and also to control, or at least lower, the impacts of violence and drug cultivation. "This work aims to develop a comparative analysis; trying to understand which have been the main factors leading to forest and social deterioration in these different regions and their impacts on local institutions, particularly those related to forest uses. I also seek to analyze the perspectives for strategies and policies of forest conservation and forest sustainable use in Guerrero State."