Sustainable Forest Management in Mexico

Curr Forestry Rep (2016) 2:93–105 DOI 10.1007/s40725-016-0033-0 INTEGRATING FORESTRY IN LAND USE PLANNING (P BETTINGER, SECTION EDITOR) Sustainable Forest Management in Mexico Juan Manuel Torres-Rojo1 & Rafael Moreno-Sánchez2 & Martín Alfonso Mendoza-Briseño3 Published online: 11 April 2016 # Springer International Publishing AG 2016 Abstract Forest management in Mexico is immersed in application of these methods in the complex and rapidly diverse and complex ecological, socio-cultural, political, changing contexts in which the Mexican forests and forestry economic, and technological contexts. These contexts sector are immersed has resulted in unexpected and fortuitous have led to the use of the forests for many purposes under results. There is a need for a new significant evolution of the diverse administration and management schemes. These forest and timber management methods in the country. New schemes continue to evolve, both in the forest areas and approaches must include greater emphasis on community- in universities and forest research institutions throughout based forestry, consideration of markets for forest products the country. Timber management has been part of this and services, as well as the overall increase of resilience, learn- evolution and has given rise to several forest management ing capacity, and adaptation while reducing hazards, risks, and approaches. Most of these approaches are adaptations of vulnerability of the forests and the communities that depend methods developed in other parts of the world for very differ- on them. These characteristics will allow better adaptation to ent ecological, socio-cultural, and economic contexts. The the rapid changes, complexities, and ambiguities of the global majority of the timber management methods are based on environment and the Mexican ecological, social, political, and sustainability principles and incorporate classical yield regu- economic conditions. lation and forest management concepts. However, the Keywords Forest conservation management . Timber management . Social forestry . Tropical timber management This article is part of the Topical Collection on Integrating Forestry in Land Use Planning Introduction * Juan Manuel Torres-Rojo [email protected] The forests in Mexico cover roughly a third of the national Rafael Moreno-Sánchez territory (65 million hectares). Temperate forests cover 51 % [email protected] of this area, and the remaining 49 % is covered by tropical Martín Alfonso Mendoza-Briseño forests [1]. The geographical location of the country at the [email protected] confluence of the neartic and neotropical biogeographic zones, its long north-south shape and its complicated topography cre- ate a large diversity of climates and microenvironmental con- 1 Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C. (CIDE), Carr. México-Toluca 3655, Col. Lomas de Santa Fe, México, D.F. 01210, ditions that give rise to highly diverse forest ecosystems and México site conditions [2]. 2 Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University This ecological diversity is found in locations with very of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 172 P.O. Box 173364, diverse population densities and socio-cultural and economic Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA conditions [2]. Most of the forests in the central and southern 3 Colegio de Posgraduados, Campus Veracruz, Carr. Jalapa-Veracruz part of the country are fragmented and under high land-use Km. 88.5, Manlio Fabio Altamirano, Veracruz, México pressures from high population densities within the forests, as 94 Curr Forestry Rep (2016) 2:93–105 well as from urban, agricultural, and livestock activities at with the uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, and rapid change their edges. In contrast, the forests in the mountain ranges of of the global environment and the national and local contexts of the north-west cover extensive areas and have lower popula- the forests in Mexico. tion densities [3, 4••, 5]. The forest areas in Mexico have well-defined property rights and many people live within or at the edge of the forests Brief Overview of Nontimber Forest Management and depend on them to make a living. Roughly 7–12 % of the in Mexico forest lands in the country are owned by the state in the form of national forests and forest reserves, while private owners The management objectives for the 65 million hectares of hold a little more than 30 % (usually in the best site condi- forests in the country are numerous and diverse. Currently, tions). The remaining 61 % are owned by communities in the about 6.2 million hectares of temperate and tropical forests form of collective land ownerships such as BEjidos^ or indig- are under active management for timber production [9]. enous land holdings known as BComunidades^ [6–8]. However, the forest ownerships that contain these commercial The diversity in the ecological, socio-cultural, and econom- timberlands total close to 15 million hectares because these ic contexts in which the forest areas are immersed has given ownerships on average set between 60 and 65 % of their forest rise to different strategies and methods for the management of holdings as forest reserves. In these areas, conservation, the forest resources in Mexico. The traditional forest manage- nontimber products, and the provision of ecosystem services ment objective of timber production is not common in many are emphasized allowing only low level of activities such as forest areas. Often, forest owners have no timber production cattle ranching and tourism. This section briefly describes the objective at all, and objectives such as conservation, harvesting management of forests for the purpose of conservation and the of nontimber products, protection of religious and ceremonial production of nontimber goods and services. sites, and provision of forest services (e.g., water production, recreation, carbon sequestration) have a higher priority [4••, 6]. Management for Conservation Purposes Even, when timber production is declared as the main management objective, it is usually accompanied by ancillary ob- Little more than 8 % of the national forest cover is under jectives to produce diverse nontimber products and services. Bformal^ protection in the form of natural protected areas with Socio-economic conditions over the forest areas are varied very low timber management activities and with high empha- and rapidly changing in space and time. Policies, laws, regu- sis on nontimber products and the provision of forest services. lations, and administration arrangements for the management The first national park was created at the end of the nineteenth of the forests change frequently and are rather varied across century [10]. During the 1930s, the area of the national parks the country. There are multiple deforestation and degradation increased to reach almost one million hectares [11]. Since the pressures emerging from populations living below the poverty beginning of the 1980s, Mexico started an intense process of level that need to satisfy basic necessities. In this context, creating forest reserves that incorporate both private and com- traditional timber management principles such as regulation munal properties. It is estimated that little more than 72 % of of harvest flows, sustained yield, and long-term timber pro- these forest reserves in the country have been established in ductivity do not apply and have been modified in Mexican private properties (individually or socially owned) [12]. forest management methods to accommodate these realities. At the beginning of this century, all the wildlands set aside These management methods have appeared in response to and for conservation purposes as biosphere reserve, protection coevolve with these forests and forestry sector conditions. areas of flora and fauna, national park, protection areas of The review presented here discusses forest management natural resources, sanctuary, or monument, were incorporated approaches and methods used in Mexico during different time into the National System of Natural Protected Areas periods. It concentrates on timber management methods, but (SINANP) [12]. The SINANP includes terrestrial and marine includes a brief overview of forest management approaches ecosystems with a total extension of nearly 25.4 million hect- with other set of objectives. We highlight the diversity of ares; it only includes 5.7 million hectares of temperate and timber management approaches that have appeared over time tropical forests [13]. in response to changes in the contexts of the forests and forestry The areas in the SINANP were established for a variety of sector. These methods have evolved in response to changes in reasons such as for their scenic or recreational value. Before needs, management paradigms, and availability of information the 1990s, their creation was often unrelated to the protection and analytical tools. We argue that the dominant timber of biodiversity. Hence, their management, even though is management methods being used today in Mexico are unfit to related to conservation, does not follow the international stan- address the current realities of the forests and forestry sector in dards established for protected areas, which include the defi- the country. We conclude that there is an urgent need to develop nition of a core area for strict conservation that is surrounded timber management approaches that are better capable to deal by a buffer area where some production activities are allowed Curr Forestry Rep (2016) 2:93–105

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