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Migration, socioeconomic transformation, and land-use change in Mexico’s Mixteca Alta: Lessons for forest transition theory

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  • Lorenzen, Matthew
  • Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl
  • Ramírez-Santiago, Rosario
  • Garza, Gustavo G.

Abstract

The forest transition is a concept used to describe and explain the transition from a dwindling to an expanding forest area in a given region or country. Three main explanations of the forest transition have been developed. The first is the “economic development path to the forest transition”, which contends that economic development and new agricultural technologies trigger rural-urban migration and agricultural intensification, leading in turn to the abandonment of marginal farmland and eventually to a forest recovery. The second is the “forest scarcity path to the forest transition”, which argues that the scarcity of forests is a major factor that encourages commercial tree plantations, reforestations and the conservation of woodlands. A third explanation has been advanced in certain developing countries. This explanation, referred to in this paper as the “diversification of rural livelihoods path to the forest transition”, holds that rural households must adjust to outside forces, including globalization and neoliberal economic policies, and that those adjustments marginalize smallholder farming, allowing for the expansion of forests. This paper describes and explains the onset of a forest transition in the Mixteca Alta UNESCO Global Geopark, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on qualitative fieldwork and the analysis of official statistics and land-use/cover maps, we contend that the three paths to the forest transition overlap in our study area. This implies a fuller and more complex explanation of the forest transition, which is crucial to understand the expansion of woodlands in other regions of Mexico and the developing world.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzen, Matthew & Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl & Ramírez-Santiago, Rosario & Garza, Gustavo G., 2020. "Migration, socioeconomic transformation, and land-use change in Mexico’s Mixteca Alta: Lessons for forest transition theory," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:95:y:2020:i:c:s026483771931751x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104580
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lopez, Erna & Bocco, Gerardo & Mendoza, Manuel & Velazquez, Alejandro & Rogelio Aguirre-Rivera, J., 2006. "Peasant emigration and land-use change at the watershed level: A GIS-based approach in Central Mexico," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-3), pages 62-78, October.
    2. Leblond, Jean-Philippe, 2019. "Revisiting forest transition explanations: The role of “push” factors and adaptation strategies in forest expansion in northern Phetchabun, Thailand," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 195-214.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chong Lu, 2020. "Does household laborer migration promote farmland abandonment in China?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 1804-1836, December.
    2. Deng, Dandan & Dong, Jiayun & Zhang, Yiwen & Liang, Wenyuan & Liu, Kun & Li, Lingchao, 2023. "Analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve for forest fragmentation: The case of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Figueroa, Daniela & Galeana-Pizaña, J. Mauricio & Núñez, Juan Manuel & Anzaldo Gómez, Carlos & Hernández-Castro, J. Roberto & Sánchez-Ramírez, María del Mar & Garduño, Andrea, 2021. "Assessing drivers and deterrents of deforestation in Mexico through a public policy tool. The adequacy of the index of economic pressure for deforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Hernández-Aguilar, J.A. & Durán, E. & de Jong, W. & Velázquez, A. & Pérez-Verdín, G., 2021. "Understanding drivers of local forest transition in community forests in Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Dobler-Morales, Carlos & Lorenzen, Matthew & Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl & Bocco, Gerardo, 2022. "Beyond a generalized deagrarianization: Livelihood heterogeneity and its determinants in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Lorenzen, Matthew & Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl & Ramírez-Santiago, Rosario & Garza, Gustavo G., 2022. "Governing the commons in Mexico's Mixteca Alta: Linking Ostrom's design principles and comunalidad," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    7. Lorenzen, Matthew & Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl & Ramírez-Santiago, Rosario & Garza, Gustavo G., 2021. "The forest transition as a window of opportunity to change the governance of common-pool resources: The case of Mexico’s Mixteca Alta," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

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