Planting trees, building democracy: Sustainable community forestry in Mexico

Abstract

This chapter examines the intersection of forestry management, forest trade, and local democracy in Mexican communities. It traces the historical development of environmental policy and the Mexican forest industry that eventually led to community control of forest resources. Implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the forest certification process on trade and local people are also discussed. This chapter examines various case study examples to explore the hypothesis that local control and democracy are necessary for environmental sustainability, especially in forest-based communities of Mexico. It concludes that communal forestry management offers new hopes for environmental and democratic sustainability. © 2005 Springer.