Towards a sustainable development strategy for the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Mexico

Since the 1950s, the cattle industry in Mexico had quadrupled in size, claiming tropical rain forests and land dedicated to basic grain production at an alarming rate. The ecological costs of this form of development have been extraordinary high. Changes in land use and land tenure have resulted in the loss of valuable rainforest resources and extensive soil degredation. The expansion of cattle ranching has also pushed many peasants out of agriculture and into other poverty-stricken sectors of the rural and urban economy. As a result of these developments, Mexico has lost national food self-sufficiency and today imports mare than ten million tons of basic grains. mainly corn and beans. The appropriation and abuse of peasant land by cattle ranchers has also contributed to the development of inequalities in the distribution of economic and political power.

19 pp.