Creating the database (BD)

A relational BD was generated in Microsoft Access^® that allowed the capture of the information. A series of capture formats were designed to facilitate the storage of the information. Staff were trained in the use of the Microsoft Access^® BD driver system and the producer BD capture formats.

Information gathering

Parallel to the preparation of the BD, procedures were carried out before different government bodies to have access to the logging permits for timber harvesting; as well as to forest management programs (PMF) for the use of timber forest resources.

The institutions that were consulted for the integration of the state list of forest producers were: Federal delegation of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), National Forest Information System, National Agrarian Registry (^{PA, 2005}), National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Technology (^{INEGI, 2007}; ^{INEGI, 2008}), National Population Council (^{CONAPO, 2009a b}), National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (^{CDI, 2006}), Certification of the good management of the forest resources, National Commission for Geography and Informatics Forestry (^{CONAFOR, 2009a}; ^{CONAFOR 2009b}), National Confederation of Forestry Organizations AC (CONOSIL).

Classification forest producers

For the classification of forest producers, the typology used by the Project for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest Resources in México (PROCYMAF) was used, which takes into account the level of vertical integration of the producer or producers who own the property.

This classification has four types of producers: I) potential producers that are currently not making use of their forest properties because they lack an authorized management program or sufficient means to cover the execution of the latter; II) producers selling standing timber, which means that those who buy the wood (owners of some sawmill or intermediaries) make use of the forest, without the owner or holder participating in any phase of it; III) producers of forest raw materials, in this case the owners and holders of forest lands have authorized uses and participate directly in some phase of the production chain, mainly in the activities of cutting; and IV) producers with processing and marketing capacity, are producers of forest raw materials that have infrastructure for their primary processing until the obtaining of sawn wood, and that directly carry out the commercialization of their products. This type of producers participate in all the productive chain, including, until the commercialization of its products. (^{Merino et al., 2008}).

Coverage of location of forest producers

Problems were found with the coordinates of the traverses for the location of the properties, mainly due to inconsistencies in the way of reporting them. For example, in some cases, each of the coordinates of the vertices of the polygonal of the property is specified, while in others they only report one or two, without knowing if they correspond to the center of the property or to one of the boundaries. In the database the coordinates were captured as they were reported in the files that justify each use.

Taking into account the above, a coverage of points was generated for each entity, which gives an idea of where the properties are located. All reported coordinates including those outside the state boundaries were included. This illustrates the problems with the geo-referencing of farms.

Included period

Information from the 12 states includes timber harvesting authorizations for a period of time that was variable according to each entity. Some began in 1990 as the states of Durango and Veracruz. Most of the states ended their authorization period in 2009. Michoacán and Veracruz stand out in the number of authorizations during the evaluated period, with 1 804 and 1 767, respectively. The states with the lowest number of authorizations were Quintana Roo, Campeche and Guerrero with 122, 134 and 202, respectively. Although some of the authorizations at the time lost their validity, this was not a reason to be excluded from the analysis.

Land tenure of land with forest timber production

The types of tenure reported were of three types: communal, ejidal and private. In the latter they include land groups and agrarian colonies. Of the 1 690 forest lands included in the 12 evaluated states, the highest percentage belongs to ejidal lands; Durango, Chihuahua and Campeche stand out with 1 651 000, 1 621 000 and 863 000 ha, respectively representing 58, 74 and 96% of the total wooded area for the same states. The state of Veracruz showed the smallest wooded area with ejidal tenure, but represented 50% of its forest area. The State of Chihuahua, showed the largest area of privately owned land, with 14.6% of its wooded area. Only in three states, the highest percentage belongs to communal properties, with Oaxaca standing out, where more than 93% of the 516 properties are communally owned (Table 1).

^*= incluye conjuntos prediales y colonias agrarias.

Table 1 Number of farms with authorization for forest harvesting, total area of the farms and trees of the farms with management program by type of tenure in the 12 states 

In order to define the land area categories, the total areas indicated in article 77 of the General Law of Sustainable Forest Development (^{SEMARNAT, 2003}) were considered, which are related to the type of forest management program: simplified, for surfaces total less than or equal to 20 ha; intermediate, for total areas greater than 20 and not exceeding 250 ha and advanced, for those areas that exceed 250 ha.

A little more than 50% of privately owned farms have access to the use of their timber resources through an intermediate program; unlike social property where 100% ejidos and communities have access through advanced programs.

Location of lands with management programs

Each of the 12 states were granted authorizations for the use of timber forest raw materials during the study period analyzed. In order to facilitate consultation at the level of each entity, only the number of municipalities that presented some type of property that had a timber forest management program were included. The municipal geo-referencing of the forest estates was made taking as its base geographic location according to the municipality where is the greater surface of the property. The location may vary as a result of the dynamism presented in the municipal delimitation of the country.

Surface and volume authorized to intervene by type of tenure

Four Chihuahua, Durango, Michoacán and Oaxaca provinces produced 70% of the total volume authorized for the 12 states evaluated. Only Chihuahua produced almost 30% of the slightly more than 110 million and a half m3 that were authorized in the evaluation period. This leads us to reflect on what would happen if more intensive management practices were applied, without forgetting the concept of sustainability, to increase timber production in México (Table 2).

Table 2 Areas and volume authorized by type of tenure.  

For example, in many of the forest farms of different entities, efficient silviculture is not implemented due to the lack of infrastructure mainly, another similar situation is the lack of a network of access roads passable throughout the year to areas with important productive potential, another factor to be taken into account is the lack of a high-tech and strategically located establishment of the forest industry, close to the areas of greater forestry use or with greater productive potential.

Percentage of forest production under the responsibility of communities and ejidos

The Figure 1 shows the percentage of timber forest production by type of tenure in each state. Only in two states (Michoacán and Veracruz), timber production comes mainly from private farms, while most of them come from ejido farms, as indicated above.

Figure 1 Proportion of volume authorized by type of tenure.  

Volume group of species

The predominant groups of species in the harvests are the pine and other conifers, oak and other leaves that take advantage of cold temperate forests; the tropical and precious woods take advantage mainly of the jungles (low deciduous forest, medium forest or high forests, these are mainly used in two states (Quintana Roo and Campeche) in these same states where the use of precios and tropical woods was greater to the volume of the pine and other coniferous groups, and of oak and other leaves.

Management methods

Information was generated on the methods of forest management in each entity are used, number of farms in which it was applied and the area intervened or to intervene. A variety of management methods were found, some of them characteristic of some entity and others named according to the silvicultural treatment used and some by the regulation method. The name of the method reported in the management plans found is quoted verbatim. The management methods common to almost all the entities were: management method of irregular forest management (MMOBI) and the method of forestry development (MDS), which except for the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche are used in the rest of the analyzed states. Another method that is applied in several states is the silvicultural conservation and development system (SICODESI) as in Jalisco, Guerrero, Puebla, México, Veracruz, Durango and Oaxaca.

In these last two entities is where it applies most. There are entities where only particular management methods have been applied, such as in the state of Durango, with the integral forest management system of Tepehuanes (SMIFT) and the Integrated System for Forest Management of Santiago (SIMBUS). In this entity, four mixed methods predominate, combining in the same property the systems of management of regular and irregular forest, Jalisco (system of integral management and successive shortcut system of protection and in the State of Mexico (integral system of forest management and terrestrial applications (SIMBAT).

In the analysis period, the SIMBAT was applied 35% of the area under the forest management of the entity. In contrast, 52.3% were managed with the irregular forest management method (MMOBI). An important aspect to consider is that in the 12 states under study, the mexican method of forest management (MMOM) continues to be used in 1 651 farms, making a total of just over one million hectare.

Number of properties with good management certification

The states in which certified properties with good management were found were: Durango (15 farms), Oaxaca (13), Quintana Roo (6), Chihuahua (2), and Michoacán and Guerrero (both with 1), in the rest the states did not find a record of any ejido or community that demonstrates that it has been certified

Permits for the use of non-timber forest products (PFNM)

The information provided by the SEMARNAT delegation for the 12 states includes authorizations for the use of non-timber forest resources for commercial purposes. The period analyzed was from 2002 to 2009, in which 1 297 permits were authorized, mainly for ejidos (695), followed by individuals (487) and for communities (115). The number of authorizations for the state of Durango stands out in 280 ejidos and 262 particular estates in the state of Michoacán.

The DB generated generate quantities in tons per product type, for each entity and type of land tenure. In this area, the states of Michoacán and the State of Mexico stand out, with numbers well above the other states. The main non-timber product for the state of Michoacán was the pine resin, for the State of Mexico were: pine resin, mainly montane soil, followed by fungi and moss. However, Oaxaca showed the greatest diversity of non-timber products marketed, highlighting pine resin, palm buds and barbasco rhizomes.

It is necessary to clarify that this item did not evaluate the economic spill that could have been generated by the ecotourism activity or other activities that provide direct or indirect benefits to the society from silvicultural activities carried out in the forest estates, like the recharge aquifer conservation, biodiversity conservation or carbon sequestration, which are very important because of global climate change.

Level of vertical integration of forest producers

According to the classification of the forest producer according to the type of PROCYMAF, for each entity the level of vertical integration by type of land tenure was obtained. Of note are the state of Durango with 188 ejidos and communities with type I producers, 275 type II and 80 type IV. The latter are producers of forest raw materials that have infrastructure for their primary processing until the obtaining of sawn wood, and that they directly carry out the commercialization of their products. Contrary to the state of Durango, is the state of Campeche, with a minimum of type I and type IV producers. The states of Puebla, Chiapas and Veracruz showed a greater number of type I producers but with a minimum number of type IV producers (Table 3).

Table 3 Level of vertical integration of forest producers.