Abstract:
The México Indígena research team chose for their topic of the First Bowman Expedition the study of what they now consider to be the most significant land tenure change in Mexican history. The Programa de Certificación de Derechos Ejidales y Titualción de Solares (PROCEDE) is a national program that has involved mapping the external boundaries and, in most cases, internal divisions of over 27,500 ejidos and other "social properties" in Mexico since 1992. The scope of the program is significant, affecting an area of over 880,000 square kilometers, or roughly 45 percent of the country. Some three million people have received certificates for individual land parcels that were until recently considered inalienable common property. This paper overviews the implementation of the program and analyzes regional differences in participation rates, the partitioning of communal lands, and resistance to the program. While some of the ostensible goals of the program are laudable, there are serious concerns. Local social and environmental consequences, including changes in community governance, increased socioeconomic differentiation, loss of forest cover, and threats to the cultural survival of vulnerable indigenous populations, are also discussed.
