Local Commons with Global Implications in a Footloose World

Abstract

"In parts of Northern Mexico, small farms lie abandoned and common property forest owners are dispersed in the USA and Mexican cities. Only a tiny number of community members participate in decisions about logging in their forest commons. In a lightly populated landscape, the exclusion of outsiders who steal timber is increasingly difficult. In one successful common property ejido, however, the professional forester in charge of logging is a returned migrant from the USA, where he gave up a well-paying job. His ejido is now certified as a well-managed forest by an international nongovernmental organization and its wood enters globalized supply chains that end in Home Depot and Ikea stores.