Mexico's community forest protectors: a photo story

MEXICO’S COMMUNITY FOREST PROTECTORS: A PHOTO STORY

El Capulin, Estado de Mexico. Community members fell timber in their forest to

sell commercially. The amount they can cut is set out in a government-approved

forest management plan.

A lumber yard full of timber from the Pueblos Mancomunados community

forest, Oaxaca.

A community-owned sawmill in Amanalco, Estado de Mexico. Here people turn

their timber into planks, which allows them to capture more of the market value

of the wood.

Oaxaca. Finished planks in Pueblos Mancomunados, ready to be transported to

buyers. It is all certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and much of it

is exported to the United States where there is more demand for certified timber.

A community-owned furniture factory in Pueblos Mancomunados, Oaxaca. All

the furniture is made with wood from the community forest. The factory also

employs about 60 community members, half of them women.

A smaller furniture workshop in Noh Bec, Quintana Roo. It is owned by a single

member of the community, but he buys wood at a reduced rate from the

community forest. He also employs five other members of the community.

A pine nursery maintained by local community schoolchildren, Michoacán,

Mexico.

Beekeepers from the community of Nuevo Becal, Campeche, Mexico. Timber

continues to be the main source of income for Mexican community forests.

Some communities have diversified into other forest products like honey,

though these still generate fairly low revenues.

Community members from El Capulin, Estado de Mexico, survey their forest.

They have been nominated by the rest of the community to form a smaller

committee that makes day-to-day management and business decisions about

the forest. They then report back to the rest of the community several times per

year.

For more information, please see Julia’s blog at the Place:

http://www.thisisplace.org/i/?id=34bcb5fd-bef4-43aa-9987-59c1d2232f4c