Sustainable forest management of non-wood resources in the semi-desert of northern Mexico

Abstract

The semi-arid ecosystems of northern Mexico cover 70.79 million ha. These are characterized by their high vulnerability to desertification and by the presence of extremely marginalized rural populations, who exploit the non-wood forest resources (NWFR) of various species for the purpose of obtaining raw materials. The objective was to describe the research carried out in 35 years since the creation of the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) (National Institute for Research on Forest, Agriculture and Livestock) (INIFAP) regarding the management, use and conservation of the NWFR of northern Mexico for the purpose of providing information to decision makers in public policies aimed at promoting sustainable rural development. In order to describe the research carried out, a search was carried out in the digital scientific sources and physical libraries of INIFAP; the information was then integrated, and the progress made in the several research programs of this Institute was described by species. Some of the topics that have been developed in relation to the NWFR are harvesting practices, sampling systems, forest biometrics, modeling of productive potential, land use planning, selection of vegetative material, seed management, production and quality of the plant in the nursery and greenhouse, establishment and management of plantations, and ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources of native species. These results make it possible to conserve these forest resources and increase their production and productivity, as well as to promote the sustainability of non-timber resources.