Abstract

CABALLERO DELOYA, Miguel. The true timber-yielding crop in Mexico. Rev. mex. de cienc. forestales [online]. 2010, vol.1, n.1, pp.6-16. ISSN 2007-1132.

The statistics the Mexican government provides about the national wood production refer exclusively to authorized harvests. Such statistics significantly underestimate the nationwide harvest, since they do not include other sources of wood production such as: a) informal harvest, which can be legal or illegal; b) harvest from forest commercial plantations; and c) harvest from agro forestry systems. The purpose of this study was to estimate the total wood harvest for Mexico in year 2009. The major obstacle to that purpose was limited available information or its obsolescence. A total wood crop of 42.98 million cubic meters was estimated. The estimate of the authorized or legal harvest was 6.90 million cubic meters (16.05%). Out of the total, 65.96 % (28.35 million cubic meters) corresponded to informal harvest done by rural communities for domestic consumption, basically as firewood. The lack of information about the total annual wood harvest makes necessary for the Mexican agencies in charge of the national forest statistics, to develop research on specific strategic subjects. This information is highly needed to plan and implement realistic policies for the Mexican forest sector.

Keywords : Rural communities; wood harvest; forest statistics; firewood; forest policies; forest production.

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