Changes in structure and cover of a common property pine forest in Guatemala, 1954–1996

Abstract

Concern about increasing rates of deforestation of tropical forests has resulted in investigations into the viability of local land-use practices and communal forms of governance. The majority of people in Guatemala live in regions where primary forests are absent. Several secondary forests in the highly populated highlands of Guatemala are communally managed forests, and people depend on forest products from these secondary forests for their livelihood. This study examines changes in forest structure and coverage of a native Pinus oocarpa Schiede communally managed forest in San Jose La Arada, Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala from 1954–1996. The pine forest is a municipal-communal property. The municipality has title to the land, however the forests are communal property. Neither forest committees in the villages nor municipal government regulations establish communal management of the pine forest; instead there are customary rules in the villages that guide forest extraction. People from the surrounding villages extract fuelwood, ocote (resin-rich wood harvested from the tree trunk and used for kindling) and timber from the pine forest. The P. oocarpa forest is situated in a seasonally dry region with nutrient-poor and highly eroded soils. Aerial photographs from 1954 and 1987 were compared to estimated changes in forest cover. Changes in forest structure are based on data collected from stand inventories conducted in 1987 and 1996. The pine forest was reduced in area by 14.4%, from 12.39 km2 in 1954 to 10.61 km2 in 1987. Additionally, stand density and basal area were reduced by 12% and 41%, respectively, from 1987–1996. Fuelwood and timber for domestic use were not extracted at a sustainable rate between 1954 and 1996 from the communally managed pine forest in this study. A sustainable-use management plan, in which all villages surrounding the forest participate, is recommended to provide future forest products for the villages.