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Indigenous and community conserved areas in Oaxaca, Mexico

Gary J. Martin (Global Diversity Foundation, Canterbury, UK, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK and Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany)
Claudia I. Camacho Benavides (Global Diversity Foundation, Coatepec, Mexico)
Carlos A. Del Campo García (Global Diversity Foundation, Coatepec, Mexico)
Salvador Anta Fonseca (Comisión Nacional Forestal, Gerencia Regional Pacífico Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico)
Francisco Chapela Mendoza (Estudios Rurales y Asesoría Campesina, AC, Oaxaca, Mexico)
Marco Antonio González Ortíz (Grupo Autónomo para la Investigación Ambiental, AC, Oaxaca, Mexico)

Management of Environmental Quality

ISSN: 1477-7835

Article publication date: 1 March 2011

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the community conservation movement in Oaxaca, a bioculturally diverse state in southern Mexico, with a particular focus on indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) as an emergent designation over the last decade.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of indigenous and mestizo community conserved areas in Oaxaca was conducted in 2009 as part of a broader inventory of the ICCAs of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico.

Findings

The survey revealed 126 sites of community conservation in Oaxaca covering 375,457 ha, 14.5 percent more than the 327,977 ha included in nationally decreed Protected Natural Areas in the state. A total of 43 sites are certified community reserves comprising 103,102 ha, or 68.7 percent of the 150,053 ha included in the 137 certified sites recognized nationally. The diversity of Oaxaca's ICCAs, which have emerged creatively in variable cultural, ecological and historical contexts throughout the state, provide an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of community conservation efforts.

Originality/value

Mexico is one of the few countries that have an extensive inventory of ICCAs that could be incorporated into an international registry being formulated by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Keywords

Citation

Martin, G.J., Camacho Benavides, C.I., Del Campo García, C.A., Anta Fonseca, S., Chapela Mendoza, F. and González Ortíz, M.A. (2011), "Indigenous and community conserved areas in Oaxaca, Mexico", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 250-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777831111113419

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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