In this study, we evaluate deforestation processes and its relationship with different production and conservation land uses in the state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. We also analyzed deforestation in ejidos (common property) with and without community forest management (CFM) that were categorized according to their degree of development and participation in CFM. The results show that the principal land uses for most deforested areas were for livestock and maize production. Mechanized agriculture and urban development related to tourism also represented important deforestation threats with high rates of annual forest conversion from 2001 to 2013. However, fire was also found to be a major threat to forest cover loss in Quintana Roo, with the highest rate. Low deforestation was associated with milpa agriculture, conservation or protected areas, and CFM. Ejidos with more development and participation in CFM tend to have a significantly lower proportion and lower overall rates of deforestation compared with ejidos without CFM. Regional conservation strategies that promote and integrate both land sparing and land sharing approaches are recommended and discussed.

In the state of Veracruz, Mexico, lowland and marginal coffee growing regions have been particularly vulnerable since the 1989 coffee crisis. Government programs have promoted production diversification as a strategy to improve local incomes and conserve environmentally beneficial shade-tree coffee agroforests. We present results on land use/land cover dynamics in the municipality of Zozocolco de Hidalgo from 1973 to 2006. The municipality is recognized for its indigenous population and poverty, and currently, diversification efforts are being implemented. Our study combines remote sensing and GIS analyses, binary logistic regression and econometric modeling, as well as socioeconomic surveys to evaluate land use/land cover change (LULCC) dynamics and explore potential environmental and socioeconomic drivers. Results show that tree cover and coffee agroforests had largely been conserved during the first decade after the coffee crisis. But, recent trends indicate loss of tree cover in coffee agroforests and their conversion mostly to pasture. Land use/land cover drivers are largely explained by spatially explicit environmental variables such as slope and elevation. Relevant socioeconomic variables such as distance to markets and land use profitability were not significantly related to land use changes in Zozocolco. Surveys revealed that many households had converted coffee agroforests to pasture or agriculture in the past decade and others intended on renting or selling their agroforest plots, mostly for conversion to pasture. Diversification programs may not be sufficient to stem deforestation in lowland and marginal coffee growing regions. Moreover, information about locally varying socioeconomic and cultural contexts needs to be strongly considered in order to formulate effective strategies.