Forest governance; an analysis from the geographic accessibility of the Office of the Federal Procurator for Environmental Protection to forest areas in Mexico

Abstract

Good forest governance includes strategies for implementing and monitoring legislation. The Office of the Federal Procurator for Environmental Protection in Mexico (Profepa) is responsible for monitoring compliance with forest legislation through Delegations distributed in its territory. Inspectors conduct assessment tasks in the field, but their reports are rarely analyzed. The conditions of geographic accessibility in which they work to reach forested areas are largely unknown and may limit the enforcement of existing laws. Adopting a geographic approach makes it possible to study environmental management by taking into account elements of both society and nature and their interrelations. Using data on the location of forest areas by state and the number of Delegations, and tracing terrestrial routes, the study sought to evaluate geographical accessibility in terms of the time, distances, and costs that the inspectors at Profepa Delegations must deal with to access the country’s forests and protected areas. Although the existence of at least one Delegation per state was documented, these offices are located in urban areas, so inspectors may require trips of as much as six hours to reach the forest areas where they are responsible for enforcing the law. Obviously, these conditions severely limit their ability to effectuate prompt surveillance of forest and protected areas in Mexico.