The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR) and its surrounding forests remains one of the most isolated and least populated regions of Mexico. Nevertheless, important changes are taking place in the region which threaten the conservation of the tropical forest ecosystem and the biodiversity it supports. Poor ecological conditions for agriculture drive some of the degradation, but many of the changes are driven by socioeconomic forces. Rapid immigration to the area ranks among the most important, driving an expanding agricultural frontier. The lack of real economic alternatives to slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture is equally important in shaping resource use. Español

The political and economic marginalization of the area have made it difficult to improve local socioeconomic conditions or support sound resource use. Recent extensive changes in laws and policies shaping markets and land tenure may have important effects in the region in the long term, but for the moment remain distant from local resource use patterns. The creation of the CBR, however, has brought attention to the region. Together with important local efforts to exert control over resources, international conservation interventions in the area offer some hope of slowing the loss of biodiversity. Español

Mexico is an important case in the study of biodiversity loss; the country ranks fourth in the world for biodiversity. Calakmul is representative of the conflicts and problems surrounding many of the protected areas in Mexico, given unsustainable resource exploitation, inappropriate policies, poverty, population growth, and marginalization of the local population. The national policy context in Mexico, notably the liberalization of a state-managed economy, parallels that of many other developing countries over the last decade. Español

Mexico´s tradition of communal land tenure makes this case of interest in other countries that are pursuing decentralization of resource management as a means to both development and conservation. The programs aimed at promoting conservation in the region are typical of conservation programs in underdeveloped regions in Mexico and around the world; programs focus on sedentarization of agriculture and improved management of natural resources by local communities. However, conflicting pressures for development of rural areas and for protection of biodiversity have created a mesh of incompatible programs and policies that promote land clearing and forest degradation. Español