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FOREST USE AND CONSERVATION
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ZAPATISTA REBELLION IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO
By Mario González-Espinosa
The Zapatista rebellion
On New Year´s Day of 1994, Mexican society
and the world were shocked by news
coming from San Cristóbal de Las Casas,
an old city in central Chiapas, Mexico. A well organised,
clandestine army of Maya
peasants had taken the city without violence
and, in the main square, proclaimed a
declaration of war against the neo-liberal
Mexican Government. As representatives of
the Indian peoples of Mexico, the Zapatista
Army for National Liberation (Ejército
Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, or EZLN)
protested against more than five centuries
of extreme poverty, the lack of development
opportunities, and the age-old social
mistreatment and abuse by the rest of
society. Unprecedented violent clashes took
place in central Chiapas during the following
days, until an agreement was reached on a
cease-fire and the start of peace talks.
Finally, in February 1996, a first important
joint announcement was signed among the
parties, the Acuerdos de San Andrés. Yet,
after ten years, the conflict remains at a
standstill because of the unwillingness of
the Mexican Federal Government to fulfill
these Acuerdos. Efforts to resume
negotiations remain unsuccessful and, for
a decade, the Zapatistas have kept
themselves completely outside of any
official programs and promote their own
government structures (Juntas de Buen
Gobierno, JBG).
Forest abuse and the rebellion
Much has been written on the complex
causes of the Zapatista rebellion. Yet there
is not a single, thorough analysis on how
the lack of development of sustainable
forestry has contributed to social unrest,
particularly in the highlands. The EZLN was
organised in Tojolabal, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and
Chol communities who live in the steep
mountains of the central and eastern
highlands of Chiapas. The region is known
for its vast biological and cultural richness.
However, Chiapas is also known as the
region with the lowest social and economic
development in the country. A struggle to
open up more land for cultivation has been
identified among the causes of the conflict,
in combination with an explosive population
growth. Yet most of the territory occupied by
the EZLN forces is not suitable for
agricultural development. The shallow and
calcareous soils on steep slopes support
degraded forests and produce meager
harvests from eroded and infertile fields. The
communities have used forest products and
services for centuries, through their
traditional land-use practices that include
slash-and-burn-agriculture. I argue that the
interaction between the people and their
forests, heavily affected by past forestry,
agricultural, and conservation policies, has
played an important role in the origin of the
conflict.
Over the three decades that preceded the Zapatista rebellion, forest resources in Chiapas were generally exploited by timber oriented concessionaries that did not invest in long-term forestry. The plunder of prime timber motivated an extreme and influential conservation movement that eventually led to the establishment of a series of important federal and state natural protected areas (NPAs), frequently with the support of international organisations. While efforts to conserve the forest were necessary, it must be said that in most cases the basic needs of local people were not considered. Population growth and the need for additional agricultural land thus led to invasions and settlement along the margins of the NPAs. The protected areas thus form a root cause of conflict, both among communities themselves and with authorities that attempt to forcibly relocate the settlers.
A few years before the Zapatista revolt erupted, the state government decreed a controversial halt on permits for the use of forests. As a result, sawmills were dismantled and timber sales to local markets came to a halt. In mountainous areas, where forest management is the prime option for sustainable land-use, people were put in jail or heavily fined if they were caught logging for firewood or other non-commercial timber. This was particularly pressing because it coincided with low market prices for major agricultural products such as maize and coffee. The inadequate, political decree has led to an escalation of the conflicts of interests between forest use and conservation and it has contributed to social resentment and the need for additional land.
Consequences of forest abuse
From 1960 onwards, the overall rate of
deforestation in Chiapas has been higher
than in the rest of the country; it is one of the
highest in the world. Following the rebellion,
lack of governance allowed rampant illegal
clearing for agriculture, livestock ranching,
and human settlement. In the central
highlands of Chiapas, selective logging of
Quercus and other broadleaved species for
firewood has impoverished forest stands.
This has substantially decreased the potential yields from traditional agricultureforest rotations. In addition, conflicts among communities have not made it any easier to reach agreements on the use of remaining forests or on the restoration of degraded and cleared areas. These intercommunity conflicts can be extremely violent, sometimes involving religious parties. Only a handful of communities have been able to organise themselves to manage their forest stands and secure financial support for certified forestry or carbon sequestration.
Outlook
When will the Zapatista conflict end? Not
soon, apparently. Crucial legal, political and
planning issues related to forest use are
still waiting for solutions or show only
sluggish progress. An increasing number
of groups ask for technical advice on forest
restoration, not an easy question in view of
the complex, biological richness of their
resource base. There may be some 1,300
native tree species in Chiapas, which
makes the urgent ecological restoration of
diversity a most challenging task, even if
the aim is to use only 100-200 species. On
the side of the Zapatistas, the emphasis on
community-agreed forest use in the context
of the JBG is encouraging. No single
research institute is able to provide the
required expertise to guide such initiatives
on its own. Restoration projects can
successfully request widespread
involvement of local people, particularly from
women and teenagers, in collecting,
producing, and maintaining the required
planting materials, provided the projects are
scientifically and technically sound, and are
based on confidence and respect. When
academic institutions can organise
themselves and make sincere progress in
this direction, they will probably be better
prepared to support social organisations,
community assemblies, and Governments
with sustainable forestry projects and peace
can be finally achieved.
Contact:
Mario González-Espinosa
Departamento de Ecología y Sistemática
Terrestres
División de Conservación de la
Biodiversidad
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR)
Apartado Postal 63
29200 San Cristóbal de Las Casas,
Chiapas
México
E-mail: mgonzale@sclc.ecosur.mx