The mesquite is an important plant resource for the inhabitants of arid and semiarid regions of North-Central Mexico. Despite its usefulness, the conservation of mesquite has been con- troversial, because in some areas of grassland and abandoned land for farming this species is considered an invasive plant. Land use changes, opening up land for agriculture and livestock farming have caused a reduction in the areas occupied by mesquite, causing loss of mesquite areas, plus effects such as soil erosion. The objective was to determine the land-use change that occurred in mesquite areas in the states of Coahuila and Durango, between 1992 and 2002. The total area vegeta- ted by mesquite was 173,455 ha in the study area. Coahuila has 73,868 ha with mesquite and Durango 44,211 ha. In Coahuila, the municipality of Hidalgo had the largest mesquite area (19,904 ha), followed by Guerrero (10,741 ha) and Viesca (7,404 ha). For its part, Hidalgo recorded the largest mesquite area in Durango (10,767 ha), followed by San Juan de Guadalupe (7,391 ha) and Simon Bolívar (6,805 ha).

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