Mexico: conservation of biological diversity (with emphasis on tropical forests)

Mexico's biodiversity ranks fourth in the world, after Indonesia, Brazil, and Colombia. The area with the greatest biological richness is the rain forests of the southeastern states. This report describes how socioeconomic activities and cultural characteristics have jeopardized these forests and other natural resources. The biodiversity of the country's three vegetation zones - tropical/subtropical, temperate, and semiarid/arid-is assessed, followed by an examination of legal and institutional factors related to natural resource management. According to the report, the main causes of rain forest destruction are cash cropping, shifting cultivation, and cattle ranching. These activities, which are practiced in more than half of Mexico's national parks, destroy an estimated 1-2 million hectares of forest annually. Additional threats to biodiversity include: erosion (65 percent of the country in moderately to severely eroded); a rural land lease system which often encourages the clearing of forestland and the use of insecticides and herbicides; human migration to settlements within national parks; hunting for both local consumption and commercial purposes; and destruction of mangroves for firewood or conversion to aquaculture or pastures. Includes list of national and international conservation institutions active in Mexico