Biocultural heritage within a Yucatecan-Mayan context: Kankabchen and its forest

Abstract

Forest exploitation in Quintana Roo has been based on the selective extraction of trees, without considering the local traditional knowledge on the management of the forest natural resources. The aim of this study is to analyze how a hybrid forestry management model is defined in practice by using timber and non-timber resources within a Mayan community. The analysis considers the biocultural approach that recognizes the territorial ethnic vision and the technical-scientific indicators of the forestry management program, whose principle is the timber resources utilization. The pertinent literature was reviewed, participant observation, interviews and a community workshop were conducted in order to recover the experiences of the inhabitants managing the forest. The results show a prevalence of traditional low-impact forestry management that coexists with the commercial timber harvesting. This is relevant for Indigenous communities in which cultural practices and collective interests of common good and their multiple benefits prevail over commercial extraction. It is noted how a hybrid or mixed model that explains the logic of the current trends of commercial exploitation models in traditional societies, takes place.