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MEXICO
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Mexico Forest Figures
Forest Cover
Total forest area: 64,238,000 ha
% of land area: 33.7%
Primary forest cover: 32,850,000 ha
% of land area: 17.2%
% total forest area: 51.1%
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005
Annual change in forest cover: -260,400 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -0.4%
Change in defor. rate since '90s: -21.1%
Total forest loss since 1990: -4,778,000 ha
Total forest loss since 1990:-6.9%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: -395000 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -1.1%
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: 11.3%
Primary forest loss since 1990: -1,975,000 ha
Primary forest loss since 1990:-15.3%
Forest Classification
Public: 58.8%
Private: n/a
Other: 41.2%
Use
Production: 0.1%
Protection: 1.5%
Conservation: 6.8%
Social services: n/a
Multiple purpose: 91.5%
None or unknown: n/a
Forest Area Breakdown
Total area: 64,238,000 ha
Primary: 32,850,000 ha
Modified natural: 30,330,000 ha
Semi-natural: n/a
Production plantation: 72,000 ha
Production plantation: 986,000 ha
Plantations
Plantations, 2005: 1,058,000 ha
% of total forest cover: 1.6%
Annual change rate (00-05): n/a
Carbon storage
Above-ground biomass: n/a M t
Below-ground biomass: n/a M t
Area annually affected by
Fire: 194,000 ha
Insects: 8,000 ha
Diseases: 2,000 ha
Number of tree species in IUCN red list
Number of native tree species: 1,130
Critically endangered: 0
Endangered: 7
Vulnerable: 23
Wood removal 2005
Industrial roundwood: 7,667,000 m3 o.b.
Wood fuel: 684,000 m3 o.b.
Value of forest products, 2005
Industrial roundwood: $545,479,000
Wood fuel: $19,216,000
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): $32,134,000
Total Value: $596,829,000
More forest statistics for Mexico
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Rapid industrialization of Mexico and uncontrolled population growth over the last few decades have had a sizeable impact on the country's environment and left less than 10 percent of its original tropical rainforests standing. Today Mexico's rainforests are limited to southeastern Mexico along the Gulf of Mexico and the state of Chiapas. These forests are most threatened by subsistence activities—especially fuelwood collection and land clearing for agriculture, using fire. In dry years these agricultural fires can spread into virgin forests. In 1998—a strong el Niño year—widespread fires destroyed over 1.5 million acres (600,000 ha) of forest and scrub land and sent choking smoke as far north as Canada. Several southern U.S. states issued health warnings and the U.S. sent firefighters and helicopters to battle the blazes.
Conflict in Chiapas has contributed to forest loss by displacing poor subsistence farmers, while military exercises by the army and rebel forces have degraded forest areas. Oil deposits in the Lacandon forest of Chiapas may soon be targeted in an era of high energy prices.
Illegal logging and poaching are widespread in Mexico. Criminal syndicates dominate the illicit timber trade, and parks are common targets for wood extraction.
Despite these threats, Mexico's forests have a great deal of potential for eco-tourism. While tourism, already one of Mexico's most important sources of income, has traditionally had negative impacts on the country's environment through land-clearing and pollution, ecologically sensitive tourism could provide economic justification for preserving wildlands. Mexico is one of world's five most biodiverse countries, home to at least 26,071 species of vascular plants, of which 48 percent are endemic, and to 2,765 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, 34 percent of which are endemic. Further, Mexico has a number of cultural and archeological attractions for visitors.
Environmentalism in Mexico is increasing, and the government has lately taken a number of steps to reduce pollution and illegal use of forest lands, including encouraging the expansion of plantations to supplant natural forest use. Although 5,925,000 hectares of primary forest disappeared between 1990 and 2005, deforestation rates of primary forest have decreased 15.3 percent since the close of the 1990s. Mexico announced its first-ever national environmental plan in 1996.
Recent articles
Mexico's rainforests depend on government conservation efforts -- 11/21/2006
Few people realize that Mexico is home to the northernmost extent of rainforests that once extended clear down to the Amazon Basin. Though diminished in extent to about 30 percent of their original range, these rainforests are still characterized by high levels of biodiversity, including such charismatic species as jaguar, howler and spider monkeys, and macaws. These forests are also inhabited by indigenous groups who live in ways largely unchanged since the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century. While still threatened by encroachment and illegal activities, in recent years the Mexican government and an assortment of environmental organizations has made progress in protecting these forests. Particularly active in these conservation efforts is the Los Tuxtlas Biological Station (Estacion de Biologia Tropical Los Tuxtlas del Instituto de Biologia Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) based in Veracruz (southern Mexico). In November 2006, Dr. Alejandro Estrada, senior research scientist at Los Tuxtlas and a leading authority on these forests, answered some questions on Mexico's remaining rainforests and conservation efforts in the country.
Forests of Michoacán, Mexico disappearing -- 11/07/2005
90% of the tropical forest in Lázaro Cárdenas, Aquila y Coahuayana -- municipalities in the state of Michoacán, Mexico -- has been destroyed according to an article in Cambio de Michoacán. Cattle ranching, mining, and the harvesting of precious wood are blamed as the principle causes behind the forest loss.
Birds and Bats Responsible for Seed Dispersal in Tropical Forests -- 09/27/2005
Scientists believe they may have found a way to regrow tropical forest on deforested lands. The plan would involve planting fast-growing, fruit-producing trees, like figs, in the formerly forested areas. These trees would attract birds and bats which would deposit seeds from nearby forests onto the ground below. The dropping of these seeds would, in effect, return native forest species to the deforested patch. Scientists will test the theory in Veracruz, Mexico to see if coaxing birds and bats back into the area will help restore the forest's biodiversity.
Tropical Deforestation Affects US Climate -- 09/20/2005
Today, scientists estimate that between one-third and one-half of our planet's land surfaces have been transformed by human development. Now, a new study is offering insight into the long-term impacts of these changes, particularly the effects of large-scale deforestation in tropical regions on the global climate. Researchers from Duke University, Durham, N.C., analyzed multiple years of data using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies General Circulation Computer Model (GCM) and Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) to produce several climate simulations. Their research found that deforestation in different areas of the globe affects rainfall patterns over a considerable region.
Recent articles | Mexico news updates | XML
Bats protect crops from insects
(4/4/2008) Bats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal Science.
Bats eat as many insects as birds
(4/3/2008) Bats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal Science.
Monarch butterfly migration threatened by illegal logging in Mexico
(4/2/2008) Destruction of forests in central Mexico, is putting the Monarch butterfly's annual migration at risk, says a researcher from the University of Kansas.
Fragmentation puts Mexican howlers at risk
(3/3/2008) Forest fragmentation is putting mantled howler monkeys in southern Mexico at risk, reports a new study, published in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.
Rainforest fragmentation affects reptiles and amphibians
(2/20/2008) Deforestation of tropical ecosystems is one of the major threats to biological diversity. Anthropogenic activities transform tropical environments into semi-natural landscapes generating a great amount of forest edge that limits with pastures and agricultural lands.
Two strange carnivorous dinosaurs discovered in the Sahara
(2/12/2008) Two previously unknown species of dinosaur discovered in the Sahara were unusual meat-eaters, report scientists from the University of Chicago and the University of Bristol.
New duck-billed dinosaur discovered in Mexico
(2/12/2008) A previously unknown species of dinosaur has been discovered in Mexico, shadding new light on the history of western North America, report researchers from the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah.
Photo: Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupts
(12/3/2007) Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupted several times on Saturday, December 1, ejecting steam and ash, according to Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center (CENAPRED).
Photo of the Venomous Gila Monster Getting an X-ray
(11/28/2007) Dr. Tim Georoff, a veterinarian for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo, handles this venomous lizard with great care as he prepares this female for an radiograph (X-ray).
Only 150 vaquita remain
(11/19/2007) Only 150 individual vaquita, the world's smallest cetacean, remain, according to a new study published in Conservation Biology. The species has been decimated as accidental bycatch in fishing nets in its Gulf of California habitat. Researchers--who say there may be only a two-year window to save the species from extinction--have launched a last-ditch conservation effort.
Mexican fishing villages work to change practices to preserve loggerhead turtles
(10/17/2007) Industrial fishing operations take plenty of blame for both depleting fish stocks and inadvertently catching innocent bystanders such as dolphins, sharks, seabirds, and sea turtles--a phenomenon known as "bycatch.".
Dean was 3rd most intense Atlantic hurricane at landfall
(8/21/2007) Hurricane Dean was the third most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center who measured the storm's central atmospheric pressure.
Crop domestication originated in compost piles
(8/19/2007) New research lends support to the theory that backyard gardens and refuse heaps played an important role in early crop domestication.
Maize cultivated at least 7,300 years ago in Mexico
(4/9/2007) Anthropologists have found the earliest known evidence of maize cultivation in Mexico. The discovery, published in the April 9-13 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, pushes back farming of the ancestor of modern corn to about 7,300 years ago.
Protected areas must be adapted to survive global warming
(4/3/2007) Protected areas can play an important role in reducing biodiversity loss due to global warming, reports a new study published March 30 in the journal Frontiers in Environment and Ecology (FREE). The research says that conservation efforts must factor in shifts in species' ranges to be successful.
The Vaquita, the world's smallest cetacean, dives toward extinction
(12/10/2006) Accidental death in fishing nets is driving the world's smallest cetacean, the Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), towards extinction, according to a new study published in the current issue of Mammal Review, the official scientific periodical of the Mammal Society.
Mexico's rainforests depend on government conservation efforts
(11/21/2006) Few people realize that Mexico is home to the northernmost extent of rainforests that once extended clear down to the Amazon Basin. Though diminished in extent to about 30 percent of their original range, these rainforests are still characterized by high levels of biodiversity, including such charismatic species as jaguar, howler and spider monkeys, and macaws. These forests are also inhabited by indigenous people who live in ways largely unchanged since the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century. While still threatened by encroachment and illegal activities, in recent years the Mexican government and an assortment of environmental organizations has made progress in protecting these forests. Particularly active in these conservation efforts is the Los Tuxtlas Biological Station (Estacion de Biologia Tropical Los Tuxtlas del Instituto de Biologia Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) based in Veracruz (southern Mexico). In November 2006, Dr. Alejandro Estrada, senior research scientist at Los Tuxtlas and a leading authority on these forests, answered some questions on Mexico's remaining rainforests and conservation efforts in the country.
Consumers want environmentally friendly computers
(6/26/2006) A study conducted earlier this year by Ipsos-MORI on behalf of Greenpeace found that consumers say they would be willing to pay more for an environmentally friendly computer. The amounts ranged from $59 in Germany, $118 in UK, $199 in China and $229 in Mexico.
Central America agrees to jaguar corridor
(5/23/2006) A group of environment ministers representing the seven nations of Central America and Mexico have agreed to establish a network of protected areas and wildlife corridors to safeguard jaguar populations, according to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. The decision was made at the Second Mesoamerica Protected Area Congress held in Panama earlier this month.
Forest fires burn in Central America
(4/10/2006) Hundreds of fires are burning across Central America according to NASA satellite images and reports from the ground. Fires have been detected in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Suggested reading - Books
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]
Other resources
Contact me if you have suggestions on other rainforest-related environmental sites and resources for this country.
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Last updated: 5 Feb 2006 |
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