Environmental governance in Mexico: Two case studies of Oaxaca's community forest sector

Journal of Latin American Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 519-548

  Mitchell, Ross E ^a  

^a ALBERTA RESEARCH COUNCIL   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK; COMMUNITY FORESTRY; ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT; FOREST MANAGEMENT; LOCAL GOVERNMENT;

MEXICO [NORTH AMERICA]; NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 33746356235     PISSN: 0022216X     EISSN: 1469767X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X06001155     Document Type: Article

References (99)

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2. See, for example, Neil Harvey, 'Resisting Neoliberalism, Constructing Citizenship: Indigenous Movements in Chiapas,' in Wayne Cornelius, Todd A. Eisenstadt and Jane Hindley (eds.), Subnational Politics and Democratization in Mexico (San Diego, CA, 1999), pp. 239-65.
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13. For good examples of green political thought, see A. Dobson, Green Political Thought, 2nd Edition (London, 1995)
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26. See, for example, Thomas M. Beckley and William Reimer, 'Helping Communities Help Themselves: Industry-Community Relations for Sustainable Timber-Dependent Communities,' The Forestry Chronicle, vol. 75, no. 5 (1999), pp. 805-10
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33. However, Mexico has one of the highest deforestation rates in Latin America due to slash-and-burn agriculture and the fires caused by it, among other causes. See A. Challenger, Utilización y conservación de los ecosistemas terrestres en México. Pasado, presente y futuro (Mexico City, 1998).
34. For more details, see Ross E. Mitchell, 'Trees don't Talk: A Methodological Account of a Forest Sociologist in Mexico,' Sociological Research Online, vol. 9, no. 1, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/9/1/ mitchell.html (2004).
35. Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geográfica e Información (INEGI), Censo 2000 (2000, retrieved 15 Dec. 2002).
36. Ibid.
37. At the time of data collection in 2002 both communities had only one public telephone with poor connection service and public transport was mainly limited to one daily busload of passengers.
38. SmartWood, 'Resumen Público de Certificación de Comunidad de Santa Catarina Ixtepeji,' http://www.smartwood.org/reports/pdfs/catarina.pdf (2001, retrieved 27 May 2003).
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40. Ibid.
41. SmartWood is a programme of the Rainforest Alliance, a global nonprofit conservation organisation, and the world's leading nonprofit forestry certifier (see http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/ smartwood/).
42. Alatorre Frenk, La construcción de una cultura gerencial democrática, pp. 154-60.
43. Government of Mexico, http://www.ini.gob.mx/perfiles/estatal/oaxaca/ 00_summary.htm (2000, retrieved 9 Nov. 2003).
44. This number may seem high but it accounts for only 34 per cent of the population of Oaxaca, and reflects the state's rural/urban political split.
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46. Although the federal elections in 2000 elected President Vicente Fox of the PAN (National Action Party), the state of Oaxaca continues to be governed by the PRI party.
47. Velásquez C., El nombramiento.
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53. Certain Oaxacan communities have had such an exodus of adult males in search of work elsewhere that a political vacuum is being taken up by women (see Cohen, Cooperation and Community).
54. In 2002 the municipality of Lachatao in the Pueblos Mancomunados had a female president.
55. Dimension lumber is a highly standardised, finished wood product used for construction.
56. Carruthers, 'The Politics and Ecology of Indigenous Folk Art in Mexico'.
57. The FSC was based in Oaxaca until late 2002. Its current headquarters are in Bonn, Germany, but FSC Oaxaca remains as a regional office for the Americas. Ixtepeji currently targets local and national markets for its certified wood products, although, until now, this has not generated additional income.
58. See website http://www.fscoax.org for more information.
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65. Personal communication, Elfego Chávez, 7 June 2004. Elfego Chávez is a forestry services provider with Ixtepeji's CFE.
66. The basis for this assessment comes from personal experience that includes 16 years in forest management as a forester, technician and student.
67. For instance, forest fires have occurred nearby over the past 30 years due to human activities. The most recent incident was in 1998 when a local resident making limestone blocks inadvertently let a fire get out of control, burning several hectares of native oak trees. However, it is worth noting that since 2004 Yavesía has been cooperating with SEMARNAT officials to remove beetle-infected trees.
68. PROFEPA is the Attorney General's Office for Environmental Protection.
69. PANOS, Voces de las montañas: Testimoniales orales de la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca (Mexico, 2002), p. 21.
70. Hindley, 'Indigenous Mobilization'.
71. See chapters in Taylor, Ecological Resistance Movements
72. see also Tilley, 'New Help or New Hegemony?' for an analysis of how the transnational indigenous peoples' movement (TIPM) and how indigenous groups may employ their presumed 'indigeneity' as a political discourse.
73. Cohen, Cooperation and Community.
74. P. A. Dennis, Intervillage Conflict in Oaxaca (New Brunswick, NJ, 1987),
75. Klooster, 'Conflict in the Commons'.
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84. Cohen, Cooperation and Community, p. 4.
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89. García Peréz, La región de la Sierra Juárez,
90. Mathews, 'Suppressing Fire and Memory,'
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95. This has been occurring to some extent with federal government support (SEMARNAT); see note 48.
96. Ross E. Mitchell and Donald G. Reid, 'Community Integration: Island Tourism in Peru,' Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 28, no. 1 (2001), pp. 113-39.
97. Dobson, Green Political Thought.
98. See, for example, John R. Parkins and Ross E. Mitchell, 'Public Participation as Public Debate: A Deliberative Turn in Natural Resource Management,' Journal of Society & Natural Resources, vol. 18, no. 6 (2005), pp. 529-40.
99. Mason, Environmental Democracy.