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Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas– especially those without access to land–may look outside of their communities for opportunities. The labor shortages and detachment from place that follow can undermine local capacities to manage communal lands for natural resource-based livelihoods. Researchers and NGOs that have studied and supported community-based resource management, including community forest enterprises (CFEs), argue that building community capacities and improving access to markets are necessary for forest commons to be sustainable. Yet, the role of young people in all of this remains understudied, including how their perceptions and motivations vis a vis forest livelihoods and work compare to those of older members who enjoy tenure rights and associated benefits. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth/young adults and older rights-holders in communities in different regions of Mexico with their own forestry enterprise, along with a small number of non-community members working in or supporting the country's community forestry sector. We found that youth held a degree of attachment to traditional rural life, but perceived limited economic opportunities locally, low and unstable incomes, and few retirement benefits associated with forest work. This, along with the physical strain of land-based livelihoods, a lack of access to credit, processing delays for harvesting permits, and outdated logging equipment, contributed to diminished interest in the forestry sector and enhanced motivations to out-migrate. To cope with internal labor shortages, communities seek labor from afar, offering short-term contractual wages, and lease land and rights to outsiders. Such actions occur outside of federal commons law, suggesting that the regulatory context in Mexico is out of step with the emergent realities and needs of contemporary forest communities. • The out-migration of younger generations from communal properties may eventually lead to collective action challenges. • Younger generations experience complex motivations that result in commuting, out-migration, and circular migration. • Regulatory burdens, outdated and dangerous equipment, and no path to communal rights contribute to out-migration. • Modern technology, redesigning rights structures, and streamlined permitting may motivate younger generations to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Forest transition theory describes a reversal in land-use trends for a given area, from a period of net forest area loss, to a period of net forest area gain. Some assume that such forest gain necessarily equates with biodiversity conservation. We question this assumption, based on research conducted in Oaxaca, Mexico. In Oaxaca''s northern highlands, low intensity forest use and rotational (milpa) agriculture have led to pronounced spatial heterogeneity in forest structure and composition, and created a high-biodiversity forest–agriculture mosaic. In the Zapotec community of San Juan Evangelista Analco and the Chinantec community of Santiago Comaltepec, as across much of Oaxaca, fewer people are farming; farmers are cultivating less land, working closer to settlements, and growing fewer crop varieties. Widespread agricultural abandonment has initiated unprecedented changes in ecological succession, patch size, and edge effects, which we speculate will be having an impact on the biodiversity of the landscape mosaic. Our work suggests that the decline of land use activity may result in a gradual loss of the forest–agriculture mosaic, leading to localised declines in biodiversity, despite (or because of) extensive forest resurgence. These findings support the view that indigenous cultures in Oaxaca and Mexico should not be seen as an environmental constraint but rather as an agent of landscape renewal that allows for both cultural and biological diversity to flourish, a reality that national and international conservation bodies need to more fully recognise and incorporate into policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]