Rights, Pressures and Conservation in Forest Regions of Mexico: The Results of a Survey on the Conditions of Community Forests

Abstract

"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."