Country Case Study Quintana Roo, Mexico Sociedad de Productores Forestales Ejidales de Quintana Roo (SPFEQR) Focus Community: Petcacab ITTO, Forest Trends, RRI Peter R. Wilshusen, Ph.D. Environmental Studies Program Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA 17837 [email protected] 1. Country Background In Mexico, the structure of land tenure and resource use rights essentially obligates a community- based approach, given that agrarian reform land grants—ejidos and indigenous communities— occupy approximately one-half of national territory (INEGI 1988). When applied exclusively to commercially valuable forested areas this figure may rise to as high as 80 percent. Community forestry in Mexico presents some of the most advanced examples of common pool resource management anywhere and yet due to a range of factors such as internal conflicts, market pressures, and institutional reforms, most community forestry enterprises have not fulfilled their full potential (for discussion see Bray et al. 2005). 1.1: Forest Sector Overview Forest Types Forests and associated vegetation types cover almost 142 million hectares in Mexico or about 72 percent of the nation’s territory. Approximately 41 percent of this total land cover corresponds to arid and semi-arid ecosystems such as scrublands, deserts and grasslands while another 21.5 percent comprises temperate forests. Mexico’s tropical forests, including evergreen, semi-evergreen and deciduous associations, total 26.4 million hectares (18.6 percent). The evergreen and semi-evergreen forest types cover 5.8 million hectares, primarily in the states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. Tropical deciduous types spread across 10.9 million hectares of coastal plains along the Pacific coast, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. Another 9.7 million hectares of mangrove, palm, savanna, and gallery forests appear primarily in coastal areas as well as on the Yucatán Peninsula (SARH 1994, Table 1). FAO ’s Global Forest Resources Assessment considers only the temperate and tropical forest types in its calculations of total closed canopy forest cover. This places Mexico’s total coverage at 56.8 million hectares or 28.8 percent of all land cover types (FAO 2000). 1 Wilshusen. Quintana Roo, Mexico Case Study. August 2005 Table 1: Forest Cover by Type (1993 ) Forest Type Area Relative % (million area national ha.) (%) . territory a Temperate 30.4 21.5 15.4 Coniferous 6.3 4.4 3.2 Mixed coniferous/broadleaf 14.5 10.2 7.4 Broadleaf 9.6 6.8 4.9 Plantations 0.1 0.1 0.1 Tropical 26.4 18.6 13.4 Evergreen/Semi-evergreen 5.8 4.1 3.0 Deciduous 10.9 7.7 5.5 Other b 9.7 6.8 4.9 Subtotal 56.8 40.1 28.8 Other Forest Cover Types 84.9 59.9 43.2 Arid and Semiarid 58.5 41.3 29.8 Wetlands 4.2 2.9 2.1 Disturbed forest areas 22.2 15.7 11.3 Total 141.7 100.0 72.0 Source: SARH . 1994. Inventario Nacional Forestal Periódico, 1992-94 . aTotal national territory calculated at 196.7 million hectares. bRefers to mangrove, palm, savanna, and gallery forests as well as mixed fragmented coastal stands. Market Participation The 1994 National Forest Inventory counted 21 million hectares of closed canopy forests (37 percent of the total area) as having commercial potential with one third (7 million ha.) under active management, yielding an average of 7.4 million cubic meters of wood products between 1990 and 1999. 1 In terms of standing volume, just over 65 percent constituted coniferous and broadleaf temperate forests while close to 35 percent corresponded to evergreen and deciduous tropical forests. Over 80 percent of all wood harvested consisted of pine from states such as Chihuahua, Durango, and Michoacán (SARH 1994, SEMARNAT 2000). Estimates suggest that average annual productivity per hectare for Mexican commercial forests stands at 1.3 m 3, which is 3.5 times and 2.3 times less than averages reported for the U.S. and Canada respectively (Segura 1997). The estimated gross value of all wood products was 3.7 billion pesos (US$ 408 million) in 1998 and 4.3 billion pesos (US$ 476 million) in 1999 (SEMARNAP 1999, SEMARNAT 2000). The potential and real values of non-timber forest products, non-consumptive uses such as ecotourism, and environmental services like watershed protection and carbon sequestration have received only limited attention in forest policy circles. Studies by the World Bank and others from the mid 1990s conservatively estimated that Mexico’s forests could be worth approximately US$ 4 billion annually (Adger et al. 1995, World Bank 1995). 1 Total forestry production for 1999, for example, included lumber (73.4 percent), pulp and paper (14.8 percent), paneling (4.1 percent) and other products such as postwood, firewood and charcoal (7.7 percent). During the decade from 1990-1999 total production dipped from 8.2 million cubic meters in 1990 to 6.3 million in 1995. Output has steadily increased since then with 8.3 and 8.5 million cubic meters in 1998 and 1999 respectively (SEMARNAT 2000). 2 Wilshusen. Quintana Roo, Mexico Case Study. August 2005 Table 2: Standing Volume by Forest Type Forest Type Volume (m 3) Relative Volume (%) Temperate 1,831,003,948 65.3 Coniferous 568,614,469 20.3 Mixed coniferous/broadleaf 776,889,518 27.7 Broadleaf 399,638,899 14.3 Other 85,861,067 3.0 Tropical 972,483,913 34.7 Evergreen/Semi-evergreen 634,462,437 22.6 Deciduous 234,964,612 8.4 Other 103,056,864 3.7 Total 2,803,487,861 100.0 Source: SARH . 1994. Inventario Nacional Forestal Periódico, 1992-94 . The forestry sector contributes only a small percentage of Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is dominated by oil production, tourism, services, and manufacturing. Throughout the 1990s, forestry—including both wood products and pulp and paper—held steady at between 1.2 and 1.4 percent of total gross national production. The sector presented a negative trade balance of almost 4.5 to 1 in 1998 due in large part to heavy reliance on imported pulp and paper. Mexico imported US$ 1.2 billion of cellulose products and exported only US$ 100 million over the course of that year (SEMARNAP 1999). Despite its small contribution to national GDP, the forestry sector represents a significant portion of rural economies in states like Durango, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, and Quintana Roo among others. For temperate forests, the states of Durango and Chihuahua lead production, each with 25 percent of total pine cut in 1998. Michoacán follows with 15 percent while Oaxaca and Jalisco each harvested 9 percent of total pine. For tropical forests, Quintana Roo harvests more than a third of all mahogany and cedar in Mexico annually (33 percent in 1998), followed by Veracruz (20 percent), Tabasco (17 percent) and Campeche (10 percent) (SEMARNAP 1999). In both temperate and tropical regions several community forestry enterprises have sought to enhance market competitiveness by certifying their timber management operations with the Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC ). The FSC ’s main function is to accredit independent certification programs such as Smartwood, which is run by the Rainforest Alliance. As of May 2005, the FSC had certified 35 forestry operations in Mexico including twenty-nine ejidos, one community forestry association (UZACHI in Oaxaca), and 5 private enterprises for a total area of 617,676 hectares (FSC 2005). Production Efficiency Mexico’s forestry sector realizes only a small percentage of the potential annual harvest in part because of its relatively small and inefficient processing industries (especially compared to the U.S. and Canada). As of 1997, there were a total of 3,497 secondary processing installations nationwide including 2,058 sawmills (mostly small-scale), 48 veneer and plywood factories, and 7 paper mills (SEMARNAT 2000). Most of these are located in the states of Michoacán, Durango and Chihuahua. 3 Wilshusen. Quintana Roo, Mexico Case Study. August 2005 According to production figures for that same year, Mexico’s forest industry was only processing 60 percent of wood products relative to total installed capacity (sawmills at 56 percent and paper mills at 74 percent respectively). By one estimate, the average production capacity of Mexican sawmills is less that one fifth of an average medium-sized mill in Canada or the United States (Segura 1997). Industrial capacity varies by region. Chihuahua’s transformation capacity exceeds its harvest potential, forcing its mills to import wood from other regions. In contrast, processing capacity in the states of Durango and Oaxaca is significantly less than their potential annual yields, allowing them to consume only 64 and 47 percent of possible harvests respectively. Other limiting factors include inefficient management and silvicultural techniques, poor transportation infrastructure, and severe marketing bottlenecks (Segura 1997). 1.2: National Policy Environment Land and Resource Tenure Collectively held land grants known as ejidos form the foundation of community forestry in Mexico. An ejido is a uniquely Mexican form of communal land tenure that covers large portions of the rural landscape in many states (including Quintana Roo). 2 The ejido classification was the principal vehicle of agrarian reform that came out of the Mexican revolution (1910-20). The term “ ejido ” refers to both the physical location (geographical dimension) and the community of beneficiaries or holders of rights (institutional dimension). These beneficiaries or ejidatarios enjoy usufruct resource use rights and are widely recognized as the de facto property owners although natural resources on ejido lands such as forests or minerals belong to the state. Most ejidos are divided into collective use lands (forests, pastures) and individually cultivated arable lands or plots ( parcelas ). Other forms of land tenure in Mexico include private property, national lands, and indigenous communal lands.