1. Sustainable Development in Mexican Forests

2. Why should we care? Benefits –alternative economic/livelihoods strategy to migration to cities, Maquiladoras, or US –Supports the ecological benefits of forest Mexico’s situation is unique and worthy of a deeper exploration as a case study example for other Latin American and developing countries. Incipient and endangered by state and international economic policies –forest development has not yet assuaged poverty or environmental conservation

3. Wood Products Exports and Imports-- 2001 Imports: $2,034,272,000 Exports: $185,851,008

4. Historical background 1500-1900 Spanish conquest: dispossession of land 19 th C: liberalism: more dispossession Porfiriato: intensified dispossession Mexican Revolution: primary cause was land distribution

5. Cardenas: Three trends 1934-1940 Land redistribution to peasants –18 million hectares (45 million acres)—800,000 recipients –(b) Ejido share of cultivated land: 15% in 1930  47% by 1940 –(c) Forest lands: 1.5 % in 1930  18% in 1940 Land reform did not touch holdings of foreign and national logging companies –“rentismo” Miguel de Quevedo: professionalized conservation END RESULT: Nobody followed it, but evasion was worse than managed development

6. 1949-1976 ISI Forestry and ‘Productionism ” 1949-1958: Concessions to big integrated forestry firms Inequalities breed rural unrest Two simultaneous policies –Land distribution expanded. –“Productionism” in the end: Neither environmental nor social objectives achieved

7. The Rise of Community Forestry As early as 1960: supporters envision production with conservation “sustainable development” –Gov’t development projects experiment –Quintana Roo Late 1970’s: Concessions set to expire: communities organize regionally to exert pressure on de la Madrid “we will no longer permit our natural resources to be wasted, since they are the patrimony of our children” 1986 forestry law:

8. Percent of Timber from Community Managed Forests Commercia l Timber Milled Timber 1976 2-3Na 1980 17Na 19924015 Source: Klooster. 2003

9. Social and Environmental impacts of forest management Michoacan community: logging, sawmill, furniture factory Oaxaca: 95 communities Quintana Roo Benefits not limited to exceptionally well managed communities

10. Community Forestry under Neoliberal Reforms: Context: Much success, but a long way to go with the need for public support 1992 Forestry Act: modifications to Article 27: devolution of control to the communities but neglect of support Plantation policy: Inequality and stagnation

11. Response to Neoliberalism Unprecedented debate during early 1990’s movement of social reformers into gov. forestry growing vulnerability of PRI Zapatistas? 1997 Forestry Plan –PRODEFOR

15. Mexican Forests, 2003 Forest Ownership in Mexico Ejidos and Comm. Agrarias (8000-9000) 70-80% Small Properties, 15-20 hectares 15-20% Protected Areas/Parks5-10%

16. Fox Administration Comisión Nacional Forestal –2x funding for commercial plantations Neoliberalism favors TNCs, not forest owning villages Issues: protection of Monarch butterfly breeding grounds