Ecological, Cultural, and Geographical Implications of Brahea dulcis (Kunth) Mart. Insights for Sustainable Management in Mexico

Abstract

Palm plants provide important benefits for rural communities around the world. Of the 95 native palm species in Mexico, Brahea dulcis (Soyate palm) has been tagged as an important resource for many Mesoamerican ethnical groups. Scientific and empirical knowledge concerning Soyate is thematically fragmented and disassociated, meaning that sound sustainable management is far from established. Research of over 20 years has permitted us to document ecological, cultural and geographical outcomes of B. dulcis; thus, the present paper aims at compiling all knowledge on Soyate to eventually guide its long-term management. It was conducted in two stages: firstly, it comprised a thorough review of previous studies on the management of B. dulcis in Mexico; secondly, we integrated unpublished outcomes obtained from fieldwork, including participatory ground-truth validation and semi-structured interviews obtained from local ethnic groups. Five factors guided our compilation effort: (i) biological and ecological information, (ii) cultural importance, (iii) economic triggers, (iv) traditional management, and (v) ecological and ecogeographical implications of Soyate palm management. The present paper confirms that B. dulcis is an important cultural resource whose utilization can be traced back over 10,000 years. The leaves of Soyate are the most useful part of the palm and were profusely used in the past for thatching roofs and weaving domestic and agricultural objects. Currently, however, palm-leaf weaving is primarily oriented toward satisfying economic needs. We depicted ten management practices aimed at favoring palm availability. Most of these management practices have enhanced sustainable palm leaf harvesting; however, these practices harbor spatial trends that turn highly diverse habitats into Soyate-dominated spaces. To conclude, we propose a framework to describe sound and sustainable Soyate management in the light of the current long-term Soyate–human relationship. It is here acknowledged that Soyate has played and continues to play a critical socioeconomic and cultural role for many ethnical groups in Central Mexico. Nonetheless, emerging challenges concerning the sustainability of the whole socioecological system at a landscape level are yet to be overcome.

Palm Sunday in central Mexico: among sellers, palms and syncretism

“…On the one hand, in funerary contexts, the deceased are protected with huaraches (sandals), crowns and crosses made of palm so that they can safely reach the afterlife. This is practiced among the Hñähñu, Nahuas and Ixcatecos in Hidalgo, Guerrero and Oaxaca [ 36 , 59 – 61 ]. In addition, it is used to protect people (especially children) and homes (this study and [ 36 ]) and is widely used to calm storms.…”

Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Community Forest Management: Evolution and Limitations in Mexican Forest Law, Policy and Practice

“…Diverse elements of TEK lie beyond the scope of regulation, often pass unnoticed by forest authorities, although some of them may be known by foresters that work in close contact with local communities [133]. Moon phases are commonly known to guide local landscape management activities such as seeding, tree planting e.g., Ocuilan, State of Mexico; [133], and timber e.g., Mayan ejidos, Quintana Roo [134] and NTFP harvesting [135]. In these cases, carrying out these activities in the correct moon phase is considered important for successful plant establishment and timber durability.…”

“…TEK-based practices do not always fit the criteria and specifications set by the forest code and official norms, and in some cases enter in conflict. This is often the case for NTFP, for which knowledge is heterogeneous and where traditional ecological knowledge shapes diverse sets of practices, and sometimes serves as the basis of local governance arrangements [102,135]. For example, in a community in the state of Guerrero (S Mexico), the harvest of the economically important Brahea dulcis palm is only allowed once per month for each individual plant, an arrangement based on TEK that unlike the official norm (that sets a fixed percentage of leaves that can be harvested for all palm species), takes into consideration the locally-observed growth rate of new leaves [88,145].…”

“…100 palm species in the country, a stark contrast with the sophisticated knowledge and practices performed in various locales. Traditional management can include complex practices including palm promotion and combinations of leaf harvest intensity and frequency [135], beyond what can be specified in the official norm.…”

“…These new dynamics include increased schooling, migration and remittance economies, non-agricultural waged activities, government funded conditional cash transfers [200,201], often coupled with dwindling agricultural subsidies [199], and the presence of conservation funding [202]. All in all, the decline of land-based livelihoods, increased schooling and migration are associated with demographic and cultural change [203] and TEK loss [135,204,205], all of which challenges and reshapes communal governance [206].…”