Scaling up in community forest enterprises
The case of central Mexico
Bibliographic Data
For community forest enterprises (CFEs) in central Mexico, ‘scaling up’ can be an effective means of achieving the transition to economically attractive and sustainable forest management, but little is known about the potential and challenges that they face in this regard. We used a qualitative case study to evaluate a set of variables that determine the limitations and opportunities for scaling up CFEs in central Mexico and thereby expanding their commercial capacities, activities and outputs. The framework included concepts related to sustainable forest management, natural resource governance and temperate forest ecology. We interviewed leaders of four communities ( n = 30) and 15 external actors (regional industry, and national non-governmental organizations). Communities that had developed long-term plans for forest management that embrace conservation values were also those with the greatest capacity to generate sustainable income streams from diverse sources. The robust legal frameworks and community institutions that set up procedures for responsibly harvesting and selling timber, thereby generating income, offer opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of CFEs. Demand continues to grow for wood products involving skilled crafts in central Mexico, but local production remains low; a lack of access to finance imposes limits on investment in the forests and value-added options for the products and services. Market opportunities and growth are also restricted by substandard physical infrastructure (e.g., roads, electricity) limited access to finance (e.g., credit, private-sector investors), and an absence of business plans. There are no formal networks to facilitate learning among these CFEs. Scaling up for these CFEs will require access to markets, innovations, and finance to create sustainable value chains for wood and non-wood forest products. The Mexican government could be instrumental in this by incorporating the notion of scaling up for CFEs when enacting policy that builds on and supports the country’s proven models of community-based forest management. On the other hand, this approach can be useful for developing more robust theoretical and methodological frameworks that capture these complex dynamics, contribute to the theory and practice of enterprise forestry development, sustainable natural resource management, and effective policy formulation
Business · Ecoforestry · Economics · Ecosystem · Environmental resource management · Forest ecology · Forest management · Geography · Intact forest landscape · Natural resource economics · Political science · Sustainability · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Forest Management and Policy · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Ecology · Forestry
Trade-offs and synergies between carbon storage and livelihood benefits from forest commons
Community managed forests and forest protected areas
Critical success factors for small and medium forest enterprises
Smallholders and communities in timber markets
Scaling up from the grassroots and the top down
Key factors which influence the success of community forestry in developing countries
What Makes Community Forest Management Successful
Recentralizing While Decentralizing
Determinants of success of community forestry
Livelihoods, forests, and conservation in developing countries
Community forest enterprises as entrepreneurial Firms
Community forests for forest communities
Community Forestry in Theory and Practice
| Citation velocity | historical |
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| Highly cited | No |