Deforestation, forest transitions, and institutions for sustainability in southeastern Mexico, 1900-2000 Article

Bray, DB, Klepeis, P. (2005). Deforestation, forest transitions, and institutions for sustainability in southeastern Mexico, 1900-2000 . 11(2), 195-223. 10.3197/096734005774434584

cited authors

  • Bray, DB; Klepeis, P

authors

abstract

  • Research on tropical forest cover change processes identifies myriad driving forces and demonstrates how change dynamics are non-linear and complex. Despite appreciation in the academic literature for the historical patterns and processes of deforestation, however, a simplistic, linear 'deforestation narrative' persists in the popular imagination. Concern arises when this narrative influences environmental policy and effective response to the tropical deforestation problem. Our main goals here are twofold: (1) to contribute to a nuanced history of forest change in southeastern Mexico; and (2) to explore the role of institutional development in reducing deforestation rates. Drawing on forest transition theory, we analyse the twentieth century forest histories of the eastern Yucatán Peninsula, the southern Yucatán Peninsula, and the Lacandón Rainforest. A deforestation narrative rightly dominates characterisations of the 1960-85 period in southeastern Mexico, but it falls short of accurately representing the complex processes of deforestation, forest recovery, and the devolopment of sustainability-oriented grassroots institutions in the 1985-2003 period. © 2005 The White Horse Press.

publication date

  • January 1, 2005

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 195

end page

  • 223

volume

  • 11

issue

  • 2