Community Forestry and the Politics of Agrarian Reform in the Chimalapas, Oaxaca

Abstract

This paper explores the difficulties of promoting a viable community-based management system in an isolated rural area that has little infrastructure and unstable property rights. The community of Chalchijapa comprises residents of mixed African, Indian and European descent who had originally migrated from Veracruz over ten years ago. The residents of Chalchijapa were granted the surrounding land as an ejido by the Zoque, whose communal lands it rightfully belonged to. The Zoque did this in part to stem the illegal clearance and expansion onto this forestland by ranchers from the nearby town of La Colonia. Cattle ranching is considered an investment that can easily be liquidated, and generally provides steady, low risk returns, with a relative ease of transport to markets. Cattle raising is discussed in comparison with the community-based forest management plan of Chalchijapa as an alternative to ranch development. Both are placed in the context of land use policy and the national forest policy of Mexico.