Annex 3: Forest Certification in Mexico
Certification in Mexico: The Cases of Durango and Oaxaca
By Sergio Madrid, Francisco Chapela - CCMSS, ERA, Forest Trends View PublicationIn Mexico, certification has become an option for establishing an institutional arrangement whereby the performance standards in forest extraction would be voluntary. Through external technical audits, the owners of the forests could look for preferential markets or obtain nonmonetary benefits by showing that their forest management units comply with standards of good performance recognized internationally. In the past few years forest communities and “ejidos” have shown interest in certification of their forestry operations. At present, there are 60 “ejidos” or communities that are somehow linked to the evaluation/certification process. The present analysis of the status of certification in Mexico focuses on the states of Durango and Oaxaca. Durango is closely linked to the markets in the south of the United States. On the other hand, Oaxaca is located in the south of Mexico. It places fourth in volume but first in biological and cultural diversity, all of which makes it closer to the Mesoamerican dynamic.