Passive government, organized crime, and massive deforestation: The case of western Mexico

Abstract

The mountains of western Mexico contain one of the highest numbers of conifers and hardwood species for the country. The extraction of those species represents about 82% of the national timber production. Governmental practices had been the burden to conservation and sustainable forestry practices in the last two decades by allowing illegal logging and circumventing environmental laws. In the last 5 years, pervasive illegal logging is led by organized crime gangs. These gangs work in complete impunity, using intimidation, kidnapping, and bribery to silence the landowners, the entire community, and government officials. As a consequence, community forest enterprises declined and the illegal logging increased. For example, 4% of the national production was illegally extracted in the Talpa de Allende municipality during 2017–2019, and an estimated of 70% of the timber in Mexico lack of extraction permits. Institutional practices, reduced budgets, corruption networks, and impunity are producing environmental degradation in western Mexico, and likely elsewhere in the country as well.