Abstract

WHITE-OLASCOAGA, Laura; CHAVEZ-MEJIA, Cristina; GARCIA-MONDRAGON, David  and  MICHUA-HERNANDEZ, Magali. Non-timber forest resources used in elaboration of handicrafts in the community of Malinalco, State of Mexico. Polibotánica [online]. 2023, n.55, pp.231-243.  Epub May 26, 2023. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.55.15.

Non-timber forest products are transcendental for the well-being of rural households, rural and suburban communities, they provide them with priority goods and services for their subsistence. The present work tries to identify the use of non-timber forest resources for the elaboration of handicrafts in the community of Malinalco, State of Mexico; as well as register the habitat where the resources come from and the legal and economic framework for the use of said resources. Through the ethnographic method, the instrument for obtaining the information, which was a questionnaire, was carried out and validated. Key informants were obtained, and interviews were conducted. During five months through semi-structured interviews with three artisans and 17 artisans from the community, a list of 11 different crafts made and marketed in the Malinalco community was obtained. Forest diversity was 15 species, 19 genera and 12 families; of which 4 taxa were identified at the generic level. The most used species are Agave sp. Crescentia alata Kunth and Jacaranda mimosifolia D. Don. The most representative families were Bignoniaceae and Asparagaceae. 43.9% were tree species, and 22% climbers, obtained from the low deciduous forest (58.3%) or from home gardens (18.75%). Regarding the parts used, 46.34% correspond to fruits and 17.07% to seeds. The knowledge about the use of flora in the elaboration of handicrafts allowed us to know the importance of the low deciduous forest and family gardens to obtain resources for the elaboration and commercialization of handicrafts in the community of Malinalco, State of Mexico.

Keywords : Handicrafts; non-timber forest products; low deciduous forest.

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