Landscapes on the Move: Land-Use Change History in a Mexican Agroforest Frontier

Carolina Berget, Gerard Verschoor, Eduardo García-Frapolli, Edith Mondragón-Vázquez and Frans Bongers
Additional contact information
Carolina Berget: Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Gerard Verschoor: Sociology of Development and Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Eduardo García-Frapolli: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No.8701, Morelia CP 58190, Mexico
Edith Mondragón-Vázquez: Departamento de Estudios y Observación de la Tierra, la Atmósfera y el Océano, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas CP 29247, Mexico
Frans Bongers: Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-24

Abstract: An unprecedented magnitude of land-use/land-cover changes have led to a rapid conversion of tropical forested landscapes to different land-uses. This comparative study evaluates and reconstructs the recent history (1976–2019) of land-use change and the associated land-use types that have emerged over time in two neighboring rural villages in Southern Mexico. Qualitative ethnographic and oral histories research and quantitative land-use change analysis using remote sensing were used. Findings indicate that several interacting historical social-ecological drivers (e.g., colonization program, soil quality, land conflicts with indigenous people, land-tenure, availability of surrounding land where to expand, Guatemala’s civil war, several agricultural development and conservation programs, regional wildfire, Zapatista uprising, and highway construction) have influenced each village’s own unique land-use change history and landscape composition: the smaller village is characterized by a dominating pasture landscape with some scattered agricultural and forest areas, while the larger village has large conserved forest areas intermixed with pastures, agriculture, oil palm and rubber plantations. The differential histories of each village have also had livelihood diversification implications. It is suggested that landscape history research in tropical agroforest frontiers is necessary because it can inform land-use policies and forest conservation strategies that are compatible with local livelihoods and conservation goals.

Keywords: deforestation; environmental history; land-use change; land-tenure; livelihoods; oral history; social-ecological drivers; tropical landscapes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1066-:d:652721

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