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This paper explores the gendered norms regulating access, use and management of poleo Satureja macrostema (Benth.) Briq., a multi-purpose Non Timber Forest Product used as ornament, food or medicine in western and central Mexico. Research was conducted in San Miguel Mixtepec, a Zapotec community of Oaxaca's Central Valleys. Drawing on the literature on governance, forests and gender rights, the paper aims at answering the following questions: who gets to make poleo access, use and management rules? How does gender ideology shape these rules? Whose knowledge (men's, women's, both) takes precedence in poleo decision-making? What is the relationship between these rules and governance efficiency? Results show that poleo harvesting practices are regulated by male-dominated institutions that do not grant rights to women. Female plant uses remain unaccounted for, in spite of the fact that they are more varied than men's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Conserving nature in the presence of humans is especially challenging in areas where livelihoods are largely based on locally available natural resources. The restoration of forests in such contexts calls for the identification of sites and actions that improve biodiversity protection, and ensure the provision of and accessibility to other forest-related ecosystem services. This paper introduces an integer-linear programming (ILP) approach to identify reforestation priorities that achieve such goals. Applications of ILP to nature conservation are many, but only a few of them deal with the problem of restoration, and none of the available models considers the basic needs of the local population. Given constraints on a restoration budget, the potential conversion of productive lands and the travel time to reach harvestable forest, the model maximises the amount of reforestation area (weighted by priority values) and minimises the harvesting of existing forest, while ensuring the conservation of landscape diversity, the satisfaction of timber demands and the stabilisation of erosion-prone land. As an input, suitability maps, generated through a combination of ecological criteria, are used to prioritise the selection of reforestation sites. An application to a 430 km2 area in Central Chiapas (Mexico) resulted in compact patches and thus a manageable reforestation plan. Acceptable trade-offs were found between the amount of soil stabilisation possible and the prioritisation goals, while uncertainty in the prioritisation scores did not significantly affect the results. We show that restoration actions can be spatially designed to benefit both nature and people with minimal losses on both sides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Depending on the particular sociopolitical situation of a country or region, as well as the degree of dependence that a population has on its vegetation resources, both forest management or designating protected areas may serve as effective policies to protect highly valuable forest areas in the long term. Biosphere Reserves, where forest management is allowed in buffer zones but completely restricted in core zones, are an important category in this regard. They are of special importance in developing countries where a high dependency on natural resources as source of subsistence is still prevalent. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of authorized logging versus strict protection in preserving the forest cover within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR), in its portion in Michoacán state, México. This protected area is crucial for the preservation of the migratory monarch butterfly, and has been negatively impacted by logging and other activities. Data on logging permits from 1993 to 2006 were extracted and spatially digitized from all the officially approved Forest Management Programs (FMP) of the MBBR’s communities. Based on the delimitation of authorized logging areas, an analysis of the processes of change in forest cover was made, by means of spatial and statistical comparisons among land tenure units (LTU) with and without FMP. Statistical analyses found no significant differences of loss rates of conserved canopy cover forest between LTU with and without FMP, nor with other change processes such as recovery and re-vegetation. However, deforestation due to land use changes was significantly greater in LTU lacking FMP, although this involved a relatively small area. Spatial analyses clearly showed where the forest disturbance is concentrated, and that it is mostly caused by illegal logging and by inadequate management (extraction of timber beyond the authorized period, and forest fragmentation led by individual use of communal land). The results show that the total disturbance observed from 1993 to 2006 (5239ha) is explained in 61% by illegal logging, 33% by extemporaneous authorized extractions and only 6% by authorized logging during the scheduled period. Thus FMP are an effective option for maintaining the forest cover in the reserve. The procedure used in the present analysis can be an effective and accessible monitoring tool, which can be used by officials responsible for forest use to supervise the strict application of logging licenses, and to give support to decision making when renewing, redesigning or revoking logging licenses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tropical deforestation and habitat fragmentation in areas around conservation areas have been an important element for discussion in the conservation and policy-making community. In this paper, we evaluate land cover change processes around one of the most important tropical dry forest reserves in the Americas: the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. The analysis is conducted at three scales: regional scale (coast of the State of Jalisco), proximity to the reserve (via a 30-km buffer zone analysis), and inside the Biosphere Reserve. The proximity analysis is complemented by a unique data set that represents the extent and boundaries of Ejidos (local land management units) in the region. Results indicate that areas surrounding the reserve have low deforestation, with Ejidos and buffer areas having more forest cover as they get closer to the reserve. The nature of this important phenomenon is discussed in the context of the socio-economic conditions of the local communities. Our work suggests that the creation of a network of “Ejidos’ Conservation Areas”, in the context of an approach that will recognize payments for environmental services provided to local communities, could contribute to the conservation and maintenance of the rich biodiversity in a region that has one of the highest levels of endemism in the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Key to climate change abatement strategies is the understanding of the comparative carbon mitigation implications of management of native forests oriented to different end-uses such as conservation, conventional management, or integrated management that includes bioenergy. In Mexico 95% of total logging is conducted in native forests, and 80% of it in pine–oak forests. In this paper we compare the carbon mitigation dynamics of mixed native pine–oak forests in Central Mexico under current management – used as a reference scenario – with two alternative scenarios: (a) oak conservation and (b) oak conservation+bioenergy. To estimate the carbon fluxes for each scenario and each forest type we used the CO2FIX V3.1 model, a user-friendly tool designed to calculate all carbon fluxes in forest stands, forest-derived products and bioenergy technologies based on forest slash and industrial residues. The CO2FIX model applies a cohort-type approach to estimate carbon fluxes in mixed or uneven-aged forests where species groups or age cohorts typically show differences in growth, biomass allocation, intra and inter-cohort competition, and mortality. The product module tracks the carbon in products derived from the forests until the decomposition is complete, whereas the bioenergy module compares total greenhouse gas dynamics of reference and alternative bioenergy technologies, applying IPCC guidelines to estimate the carbon equivalence of the various greenhouse gases. We compare the outcome of the three scenarios in a managed community forest of about 11,000ha in Michoacan, Central Mexico. The carbon mitigation potential after 20 years varied between 8.2 and 19.3tC/ha for the oak conservation scenario and between 21.6 and 42.9tC/ha for the oak conservation–bioenergy scenario. The bioenergy scenario results in a continuous stream of about 1.36tC/ha of carbon benefits per year, whereas the oak conservation scenario will stop accumulating carbon after 40 years, compared to current forest management and energy generation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]