Success Factors in Community Forest Enterprises: A Case Study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the determinants of success (DS) of community forestry enterprises (CFE) in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (RBMM, by its initials in Spanish), to evaluate their achievements in conserving the forest resource and the benefits they have generated in the communities. We analyzed the DS with the analytical model of "Porter's diamond," a structured survey, spatial analysis, and a case study of three CFE with different levels of integration of the forest production chain (FPC). The results suggest that human capital and social capital are DS; in addition, there is a correspondence between the conservation of the forest resource and the integration of the FPC. The success of a CFE in the RBMM does not lie in the great economic benefits it generates, nor in the abundance of its forest resource; it lies in the conservation of natural capital and its sustainable use. Therefore, public policies should consider communal self-government practices, customs, and communal forestry activity in the first links of the FPC.