Tropical Dry Forests in Latin America: Analyzing the History of Land Use and Present Socio-Ecological Struggles

Tropical dry forests (TDFs) cover 42% of the world’s tropical ecosystems (Murphy and Lugo 1995), with extensive coverage in Latin America. More than 50% of all TDFs occur in South America, and about 15% occur in Mexico and Central America (Miles et al. 2006). Due to their high biological diversity and rapid loss through deforestation, TDFs have evinced increased scientic interest in the last decades (Murphy and Lugo 1986, 1995; Janzen 1988;

CONTENTS

21.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 375 21.2 Comparative Case Studies: Conceptual Structure, Research

Methodology, and Results of Human Dimensions ............................... 377 21.3 Human Dimensions of the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere

Reserve, Jalisco, Mexico ............................................................................ 382 21.3.1 Methods and Analyses ................................................................. 382 21.3.2 Historical Dimension of Society ..................................................383 21.3.3 Cultural, Political, and Economic Dimensions ..........................384