Presentation:

Mexico presents a unique case globally in which much of the nation’s forests were placed as commons in the hands of communities, who, with state support and their own entrepreneurial vigor, created community forest enterprises (CFEs). This reform has transformed forest management in that country at a scale and level of maturity unmatched anywhere else in the world.

For decades Mexico has been conducting a de facto large-scale experiment in the design of a national social-ecological system (SES) focused on community forests. What happens when you give subsistence communities rights over forests, as well as training, organizational support, equipment, and financial capital? Do the communities destroy the forest in the name of economic development, or do they manage them sustainably, generating current income while maintaining intergenerational value as a resource for their children? This presentation shares the scientific and social evidence that can now begin to answer these questions.

Presenter Bio:

David Barton Bray is Professor Emeritus in the Earth and Environment Department at Florida International University. He is widely published in academic journals and in journalistic outlets such as the New York Times and the Miami Herald. He is the lead editor of the book The Community Forests of Mexico (University of Texas Press, 205) and the author of Mexico’s Community Forest Enterprises: Success on the Commons and the Seeds of a Good Anthropocene (University of Arizona Press, 2020).