Vegetation change and land tenure in Mexico: A country-wide analysis

There is an ongoing debate on the effect different property regimes have on the use of natural resources and land conversion (i.e., deforestation or reforestation). Much of the discussion has been centered on the two main forms of tenure regime: common-pool system and private property. Case studies around the world have provided evidence on whether one is more effective at preventing deforestation than the other, but there is not a clear pattern. Part of the problem is that evidence comes from theoretical models or isolated case studies instead of comparative studies across large areas. This paper helps to fill this gap by analyzing the association between land cover change (2001–2010) and land tenure regimes including private and two types of common-pool systems (communal and ejido) in Mexico at the municipality level. The analyses were conducted for each of the four major biomes (i.e., moist forest, dry forest, coniferous forest, and desert) to control for differences in environmental factors. Municipalities dominated by communal land tenure had the largest increase in woody cover (classified as >80% cover) in the moist forest, dry forest, and coniferous forest biomes, and municipalities classified as private also had an increase in woody cover, particularly in the desert biome. In contrast, municipalities classified as ejidos (common-pool tenure system resulting from the land reform) lost woody cover mostly in moist forest and desert biomes, but gained woody cover in dry forest and coniferous forest biomes. In modeling analyses, environmental variables were the most important variables associated with woody cover change for private and most communal municipalities, while socioeconomic variables were the most important in ejido regimes. These results highlight the importance of land tenure on land cover change, and show that differences in woody cover change between types of common-pool systems can be larger than their differences with private land tenure. During the last 10 years, virtually all deforestation has occurred in areas dominated by ejidos; in contrast, communal and private regimes seem to ameliorate the deforestation process.

► During the past decade land tenure regime influenced land cover trends.
► Woody vegetation tended to decrease in Ejido land tenure regime.
► Woody vegetation tended to increase in Communal and private land tenure regimes.
► Difference among collective tenure systems can be more important than differences with private tenure systems in driving land cover change.