Abstract
The Yucatán peninsula is the region in Mexico most at risk in the face of climate change, and it is a focal point of sociopolitical and institutional changes that have led to serious environmental degradation. The northern part is particularly affected by irregular rainfall, droughts, and tropical storms, as well as institutional changes (mainly in private property land rights) leading to different uses of forests that are undermining reforestation efforts. The area also experiences catastrophic wildfires that often follow tree-toppling hurricanes exacerbated by climate change. These conditions affect the livelihoods of local people, forcing them to adjust. In addition, inequality in development between the wealthy Caribbean tourist coast and its rural hinterland hinder the sustainability and improvement of livelihoods inland, discouraging rural people from investing in their land and leading them to migrate for work. However, a stable population and long-term economic investment in forests and forestry institutions could be the basis for a more climate-resilient landscape. To understand these processes, this chapter focuses on historical and institutional transformations of economic exploitation, social and political marginalization, and specific adaptation strategies like circular labor migration of the local population in northeastern Yucatán. This institutional history has made the population and the landscape more vulnerable to climate events and climate change, and has made local collective action for reforestation more difficult. The only major area that remains forested is communally owned. The chapter discusses the implications of the commons for sustainable development and increased resilience under conditions of peripheralization and climate change.
The original version of this chapter was revised: Author name has been corrected. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53742-9_22
References
Alscher S (2008) Von Hurrikanen, Hotels und Hoffnungslosigkeit: Naturkatastrophen und Umweltmigration in Mexikos Südosten. Peripherie 112(28), Münster
Ballesteros-Barrera C et al. (2011) El impacto potencial del cambio climático sobre los Agroecosistemas. El caso del cultivo del maíz, proyecciones al futuro. In: Aragón G.A.D. Jiménez GYM. Huerta L (eds) Manejo Agroecológico de Sistemas vol II. Publicación especial de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México. pp 1–14
Benjamin RS (1951) Lol lamaban ‘el loco’: Como un solo hombre reconquistó a Yucatán. Selecciones de Reader’s Digest 21(122):21–25
Bracamonte y Sosa P (2003) Los Mayas y la tierra. La propiedad indígena en el Yucatán colonial. Coeditor(es): Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) y el Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán. Mérida, Mexico. ISBN: 970-701-356-7
Brenner L, Aguilar, AG (2002) Luxury tourism and regional economic development in Mexico. Prof Geogr 54(4):500–520, Association of American Geographers
Centro de Salud de Colonia Yucatán (2013) Diagnóstico de salud y estudio de comunidad 2013, Colonia Yucatán, unpublishesd
Cox M et al. (2010) A review of design principles for community-based natural resource management. Ecol Soc 15(4): 38. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art38/
Diemont SAW et al (2011) Comparisons of Mayan forest management, restoration, and conservation. Forest Ecol Manage 261:1696–1705. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.11.006
Ensminger J (1992) Making a market. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Flores-Delgadillo L et al (2011). A sustainable system of a traditional precision agriculture in a Maya homegarden: soil quality aspects. In: Soil & Tillage Research 113:112–120, Elsevier B.V, doi:10.1016/j.still.2011.03.001
Ford A, Nigh R (2009) Origins of the Maya forest garden: Maya resource management. J Ethnobiol 29(2):213–236
Giorgi F (2006) Climate change hot-spots. Geophys Res Lett 33(8):0001. doi:10.1029/2006GL025,734
Gómez-Pompa A (1987) On maya silviculture. Mexican Stu/estudios Mexicanos 3(1):1–17. doi:10.2307/4617029
Góngora Salas Á (2001) Northeastern Yucatán project: archaeological survey in the Northeastern corner of Yucatán, México. Report on field season 2000. First stage of archaeological surveys in the northeast corner of the Yucatán Peninsula. Foundation for the advancement of mesoamerican studies, Inc. (FAMSI)
Haller T (2007) Understanding institutions and their links to resource management from the perspective of new institutionalism. NCCR North-South Dialogue, No. 2. Bern: NCCR North-South. http://www.north-south.unibe.ch/content.php/publications/filter/0?search=Haller&advancedsearch
Haller T (ed) (2010) Disputing the floodplains: institutional change and the politics of resource management in African floodplains. In: Brill, African Social Studies Series
Haller T (2013) The contested floodplain. institutional change of the commons in the Kafue Flats, Zambia. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Lexington
Haller T (2015) Climate change impacts, institutional resilience and livelihoods vulnerability: a comparative analysis of climate change and adaptation strategies in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In: Rosendhal J, Zanella M, Weigelt J (eds) Pro-poor resource governance under changing climates. Potsdam: IASS. pp 160–181. http://publications.iass-potsdam.de/pubman/item/escidoc:936891:4/component/escidoc:936892/IASS_Study_936891.pdf
Karmalkar A et al (2011) Climate change in Central America and Mexico: regional climate model validation and climate change projections. Clim Dyn 37(3–4):605–629. doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1099-9
Mexico News Daily (2015) Yucatán vulnerable to climate change effects. Importance of mangroves highlighted at Cancún conference. Tuesday, October 20, 2015, Source: El Universal (sp). http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/yucatan-vulnerable-to-climate-change-effects/ [29.10.15 09:25:17]
Meyers RK, van Lear DH (1998) Hurricane-fire interactions in coastal forests in the South: a review and hypothesis. Forest Ecol Manage 103:265–276
Moßbrucker H (1994) Agrarkrise, Urbanisierung und Tourismus-Boom in Yucatán, Mexiko, Kontoversen 7. Münster, Hamburg
North D (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University. Press, Cambridge
Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons. the evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Pagdee A, Kim Y, Daugherty PJ (2006) What makes community forest management successful: a meta-study from community forests throughout the world. Soc Natural Res 19(1):33–52
Pérez Castañeda JC (2002) El nuevo sistema de propiedad agraria en México. México D.F
Quezada S (1998) Political organization of the Yucatecan Mayas during the eleventh to sixteenth centuries. In: Schmidt et al (ed) Maya civilization, Thames and Hudson, London
Quezada S (2010) Breve historia de Yucatán. El Cologio de México, Fideicomiso Historia de las Américas, México D.F
Ribot J (2010) Vulnerability does not fall from the sky: toward multiscale, pro-poor climate policy. In: Mearns R, Norton A (eds) Social dimensions of climate change: equity and vulnerability in a warming world. World Bank, New York, pp 47–74
Roys R (1957) The political geography of the Yucatán Maya. C.I.W., Publication, Washington D.C
Ruiz Silva JA (Compilador) (2011) Colonia Yucatán. La historia reciente de un pueblo maderero. Fundación Amigos de Colonia Yucatán, A.C., México
Ruiz Silva JA (2013) Colonia Yucatán: Decadencia y migración. La historia de sus hombres y mujeres exitosos. México
Secretaria de la Reforma Agraria (1978) Diario Oficial 10(9):46–48
Villarino T, Araceli Rubi (1984) Estudio de comunidad de la Colonia Yucatán, Yucatán, México. Universidad de Yucatán, Mérida, México
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lysann Schneider, Haller, T. (2017). A Region Under Threat? Climate Change Impacts, Institutional Change and Response of Local Communities in Coastal Yucatán. In: Leal Filho, W., Keenan, J. (eds) Climate Change Adaptation in North America. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53742-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53742-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53741-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53742-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)