The Inadequacy of Article 27 Reforms in Shaping Sustainable Ejidos

Abstract

"Mexico's first revolutionary leadership framed ejidos as the mechanism for land reform early this century. One of the central tenets promulgated by Article 27 was the inalienability of ejidal lands. The law also allowed for the expropriation of large private land holdings and the redistribution of those lands to form ejidos. Mexico's revolutionary government of 1992 reversed these provision with the January 1992 amendments to Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, framing the reforms as the mechanism for rural modernization. The reforms unleashed potentially sweeping change in the rural property landscape by, first, the end of land redistribution to landless rural communities and, second, the creation of an agricultural land market. So far, however, exposure to land-market forces has had little effect on Mexican ejidos. The potential for sustainable management of natural resources in ejidos is limited and is not improved by current reforms. To promote sustainable development, additional reforms are needed to affect organizational change within ejidos."