History and landscape changes in two “ejidos” of the lacandonian rainforest, chiapas

Abstract

Designing successful strategies for forest conservation requires an understanding of the causes of land-use change. A historical analysis of land-use changes in two ejidos of the Lacandon Jungle in Chiapas, México was conducted in this study. Participatory mapping and remote sensing methods were combined to reconstruct the changes that occurred from 1986 to 2018. Participatory workshops and semi-structured interviews were also conducted. We identified three stages in the history of land-use change: a) colonization and adaptation (1986-1994); b) intervention on productive activities (1994-2005); and c) livestock expansion and forest conservation (2005-2018). In each of these, the economic and political factors causing change contributed in different ways and were mediated at the local level by the specific organization in each ejido. There was a sharp decrease in areas dedicated to staple food production in favour of livestock farming. Even though public resources have been allocated in the last stage to promote forest conservation, the built infrastructure, the weak institutional presence, and the strong specialization in cattle production hinder efforts to stop deforestation.