Community demographics

It should be noted that both the age and the marital status of the people are very important data for the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano local authorities since the attendees register updating to the community assemblies depends on that, participation in tequios, the presentation of unsuscribed people who have reached more than 60 years, as well as in the application of timber resources for domestic use, firewood and coal. The studied sample (n= 56) included 82.1% men and 17.9% women, with a mean age of 41.6 years and 44.4 years, respectively. The mean age of the sample as a whole was 42.1 years, with the 35-44 age range being the most concentrated in the sample with 26.1% in the case of men and 30% in the case of women. With respect to marital status, 63% of the men were married and 23.8% lived in a common-lae marriage; in the case of women, 50% were single mothers and only 20% were married.

Other important demographic data of the comuneros are related to the schooling of the people, the data of the survey reported that all the men knew how to read and to write, unlike the women who only 70% of them could do it. Regarding the years of schooling, 39.1% of the comuneros attended the complete elementary school and only 19.6% had a completed high school. In the case of women, 40% of them had incomplete elementary school and only 30% completed this level of education; being 7.6 years the average number of years enrolled in the school equivalent to incomplete junior high school.

Regarding the education data reported in the survey, from the arrival of educational services until the 1970s, the inhabitants of Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano could only study in the community until the fourth year of elementary school, and those who had the possibility of completing their basic studies had to continue in schools located in the municipalities of San Miguel Peras or in the municipality of San Antonio Huitepec, a situation that became difficult since the average distance on the road between both municipalities is 10 kilometers . The number of people who belonged to the families of the comuneros was 4.98 members in the case of households headed by men and 3.6 members in the homes of women. In both cases the average number was 4.73 people per family.

The maximum number of members per family was 11 people; 50% of the families of 4 to 5 people and 21.4% by 2 to 3 members. The number of economic dependents per family, in the case of the male comuneros corresponded to 3.7 people and in the case of the female comuneras was 2.5 people. Being 41.1% of the families of 2 to 3 people. This means that families are no longer as numerous as they were in the past.

Agricultural production activities

The comuneros carry out their agricultural activities on hillside plots with slopes of 40 and 45%. The preparation and opening of cultivation spaces is still carried out with the slash and burn crop (RTQ) and animal traction system. In the cultural tasks of each crop, rudimentary farm implements are used. During the 2015 spring-summer cycle, the main crops by the number of people and the yield obtained were maize, beans, zucchini and chilacayota showed in the Table 1.

Fuente: elaboración a partir de los datos de campo.

Table 1 Data on the main crops established by comuneros at Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano.  

Maize production was insufficient for 80.4% of the families, a situation that is caused in part because this basic grain has to be produced on small surfaces of assigned land that families have, since the clearing for opening new spaces is regulated by internal regulations of the community (community statute). Therefore, families with deficit buy maize or acquire it through the exchange of other products (barter). Revenues for the purchase of maize come from different sources such as the sale of livestock raised by the families, the sale of firewood or charcoal from the forest, or public subsidies. Families complement their protein diet with various non-timber products obtained from harvesting in the forest and wild animals hunting. In some cases, non-timber products are traded or exchanged for other products that are useful to families.

Livestock breeding and fattening is an activity carried out with the aim of having food with sources of animal protein, in addition to using animals as a means of transport and cargo; and in times of cultivation they rely on the traction force for the trawling of agricultural implements, and very frequently the livestock species also fulfill a saving function of which they get hold when there is a money urgency.

Regarding the type of livestock species that most people in the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano community had in the 2015 year were hens (n= 38) with an average of 11.6 hens, this was due to the fact that poultry occupy little space compared to the larger cattle, and that in a short time is available as food for families or for sale to obtain income that would help meet various needs. The greater frequency in poultry farming is also due to the fact that pastoral activities are regulated by the Community statute, which stipulates that persons engaged in the grazing of cattle and small ruminants must also have a place for its confinement in order to avoid damage to the forest by leaving them free.

Harnessing the forest as a source of well-being

The forest is an important source of products and raw materials useful to the families of the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano community, it is necessary to point out that access to timber resources is controlled by the norms established in community assembly. Among the various topics are: determine the quantity and number of times a year in which people can make coal or collect firewood for sale, hunting permits are regulated; and empower them to carry out actions aimed at improving the forest.

In an exercise of authentic local governance (^{McCay and Acheson, 1987}), citizenship has established two institutions that manage the use of forest resources: the Comité de Organización de Comuneros y Campesinos (hereinafter the Comité de Organización) and the Comité de Vigilancia de los Recursos Naturales y Forestales (hereinafter: Comité de Vigilancia). Both committees regulate the amount of resources extracted from the forest and sanction disrespect to standards (^{Ostrom, 2011}). The powers of these Citizens Committees are established in the internal regulations, also called Community statute, which contemplates the will of the assembly using legal terms. Controlled and supervised access by the community assembly through its institutions allows, on the one hand, its appropriators to make a balanced use of resources in accordance with ^{González (1995)} and on the other hand, it strengthens social capital among the members of the community through their collaboration in different positions and in transparent accountability (^{Solís and Limas, 2013}).

Among the different forest resources that the community members of Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano took advantage of in the 2015 year was firewood for domestic use, which had the purposes described by ^{González (1995)}. Firewood for domestic use accounted for an average annual non-monetary amount of $9 028.93, representing 30% of the average non-monetary average income of the production unit. Regarding the collection of this fuel, the community statute establishes that all the citizenship will be able to take advantage of the resources of the forest of domestic form as long as it is of rational way and exclusively to cover home necessities.

On the collection of firewood intended for sale, 26.8% (n= 15) of the families that carried out this activity in 2015 sold an average of 3 544 pieces, and obtained an average income of $2 870.67 representing 5.5% of the total monetary income of the production unit. It should be noted that the extraction of firewood for sale is managed and regulated by the Organization and Surveillance Committees, which give the community members the right to extract a year’s worth of fuelwood equivalent to six vans with capacity for three tons, or transfer its right of extraction to another appropriator locally known as “trucker”.

The coal production was carried out by 31 families (55.4%) interviewed and represented 8.3% of the total income of the production unit. On this activity, the community assembly decided that each comunero could produce up to 20 sacks of coal per month, with prior authorization and verification of the aforementioned committees, being valid that permission in the amount agreed and in the corresponding month. Looking at all times to maintain the care of ovens that are built to avoid havoc in neighboring land or the forest in general.

Non-timber forest products are of great importance to rural communities, as pointed out by ^{Gerez and Purata (2008)}. As part of the variety of non-timber products listed by these authors, community members of Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano collected in 2015 mainly mushrooms, medicinal plants, condiment plants, ornamental flowers, fertilizers for plants and fuels. Of the total number of people surveyed (n= 56), only 44 families collected this type of products at different times in the year 2015, the value of the collection represented 4.7% of the monetary income of the production unit. In this respect, the Community statute provides that the collection of such non-timber products is permitted only if the harvesting does not put at risk the various species and its habitat, also avoiding the deterioration of other lands where the products can be found.

Regarding the hunting of wild animals in the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano forest, the amount of non-monetary income from the hunt represented 0.22% of the total production unit and 0.15% of the total income (monetary and non-monetary) of the production unit. It should be noted that people hunt animals for various reasons mainly for its use as food, as noted ^{Chardonnet et al. (1995)}. In the studied community, people hunt those animals that endanger the safety of livestock, those that cause damage to agricultural crops, or for the value that its meat or other structures of its body have on the regional market such as skins, antlers, shells, among others. Regarding wildlife hunting in the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano community, Community statute has established closure periods mainly for deer and can only be killed with the express permission of the Organizing Committee and the Surveillance Committee, which approve the authorization as long as it is between the months of October to January (four months).

On the exposure of forests to different pressures from environmental and social factors identified by ^{Merino and Martínez (2014)}, in the case of the forest of Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano community since the 2014 year this ecosystem was affected by the presence of peelers insects that caused deterioration in the trees that were invaded. For this reason, the community authorities, municipal authorities and government institutions organized activities to deal with the effects (^{Ostrom, 2011}) of peelers, and it was agreed in a community meeting that the goal of forest sanitation was not to prioritize wood sale, but rather to prevent peeler insects from spreading throughout the forest.

The community assembly decided to take advantage of the damaged trunks and that the profits generated by the sale of the wood should be distributed among the Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano people as part of the rights they have over a common resource (Ostrom, 1992). The average income from wood harvesting accounted for 9.1% of the average monetary income of the production unit, and 2.9% of the income of the production unit in 2015, considering monetary and non-monetary income.

By only counting the income that the forest brings to Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano families, the collection of firewood for sale is the one that most contributed to family income, followed by coal and other forest products showed in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Distribution of the income from forest resources.  

As for other income of the community members who made up the sample, 71.4% (n= 44) received support from government programs aimed at the development of rural families such as: Prospera, Proagro Productivo, elderly (over 60 year old) and the Strategic Project for Food Security (PESA). Overall, the amount of public program subsidies for families that did receive support accounted for 15.3% of the total income (monetary and non-monetary) of the production unit, and 48.1% with respect to the monetary income of the production unit. Figure 3 shows the percentages that represented each one of the income sources of the families interviewed in 2015.

Figure 3 Income from productive activities.