FGRWG minutes of May 7-10, 2012 meeting
NATIONAL REPORT – MEXICO
Report to the Forest Genetic Resources Working Group
North American Forestry Commission – FAO
XXXIV Reunion, May 7-10, 2012.
Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec city, Quebec, Canada
National Report on Forest Genetic Resources. During the last year, activities in Forest Genetic Resources
at CONAFOR have been focused on the integration of the National Report on the status of FGR. A working
group, coordinated by professors from the Forestry Program at the Colegio de Postgraduados, and
CONAFOR technicians, along with members from most universities having a program related with forest
genetic resources, had completed the National Report on the Status of Genetics Resources requested by
FAO. FAO provided resources and guidance to gather the information and to integrate the report, which,
in turn, was presented to CONAFOR, the National focal point. CONAFOR sent officially the report to the
FAO office, to be included in “The State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources“. Several federal
institutions belonging to SEMARNAT, including CONAFOR, CONANP (National Commission on Natural
protected Areas), and CONABIO (National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity), state
governments and other regional public institutions provided information to complete the report, which
was turned in by the end of January 2012. The National Report of the Forest Genetic Resources in Mexico
provides information on the status and trends, and identifies needs, gaps and priorities. The report
included the status of in situ and ex situ conservation, the state of national programs, research, education,
training and legislation, the state of regional and international collaboration, access to forest genetic
resources and sharing of benefits arising from their use and the contribution of forest genetic resources to
food security. It considers both between and within species diversity, including a list of priority species and
their roles, values and importance, a list of threatened/endangered species, main threats, opportunities
and challenges for the conservation, use and development of forest genetic resources, included the range
of products and services which they provide. The report also includes recommendations for future actions;
the scope of activities includes actions being taken by the public, private and non-governmental sectors.
Actions, needs, priorities and the involvement of local communities and associations of forest growers are
also taken into account.
National standards for seed and seedling production and use. The efforts of CONAFOR for developing
national standards for seed production and use, seedling nursery production, and reforestation have
already provided some results. After a year of work, the document on the National Standard for the
Establishment of Seed Production Units and Management of Forest Germplasm has been completed, and
now is in public consultation. This policy document includes rules for the establishment of seed stands,
1
FGRWG minutes of May 7-10, 2012 meeting
seed areas, seedling and clonal seed orchards, with technical specifications for each of them and rules for
certification. It also includes some rules and restrictions for geographic movement of seed in operational
reforestation programs. All forestry plantations supported by subsidies of the Mexico government for
restoration purposes must use local seed, so the country has been divided in 86 areas. Inside each area,
seed units will be registered and collected for seedling production. Seedlings will be used inside the native
area. At the same time, CONAFOR finished also a policy for nursery management, which includes
specifications to improve seedling quality, and requires nursery growers to use local seed for reforestation
programs supported by CONAFOR. Both policies are expected to be approved in late June.
Facilities for long term conservation of genetic resources. The National Center for Conservation of
Genetic Resources, located in Tepatitlán, Jalisco (about 100 km from CONAFOR headquarters in
Guadalajara), is now open and operational. The Center is coordinated by INIFAP. Additional effort is
required to integrate a national network for the system of Forest Genetic Resources in order to take full
advantage of these facilities for long term conservation of genetic resources.
Public funds for forestry research. The most important program for funding the research on forestry, the
joint CONACYT-CONAFOR fund, has a sustained trend of decreasing the number of research projects
granted, and decreasing the diversity of institutions that submit for a grant. The number of projects
funded for the first two years of the Fund (2002-2003) averaged 65 projects per year, whereas in the last
four years reported (2007-2010) was 11 per year (Mallen-Rivera 2011. Editorial. Revista Mexicana de
Ciencias Forestales). The results seem to be a large discouragement among the research community to
submit in the Fund, something that is reflected in the number of projects submitted and then granted.
Possible forest decline due to climate change. There are a growing number of reports of trees dead by
pest and diseases on natural stands. It is likely that such mortality actually is a consequence of an ongoing
process of forest decline due to drought stress related to climatic change. It is of the largest priority
continuing the gathering of forest inventory data to analyze these trends. However, there are indications
that for field personnel responsible of returning to inventory plots, is becoming more difficult to reach the
same sampling plots, due to the risk that represent traveling to isolated areas in the forest.
There is, for example, a report on numerous Abies religiosa trees dead in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere
Reserve (among many other areas), that are consistent with the prediction that by the end of the century,
there will be not a single square kilometer of suitable climate habitat for such specie inside the Reserve
(see Sáenz-Romero et al., 2012. Forest Ecology and Management). It seems to be that the general
accepted reason among the forester community is that there is an increase of pests and diseases due to
some intrinsic dynamic of the pest and disease organisms with the trees, but there is not a broad
understanding of the possible link to climate change. Thus, there is a need to push forward the
implementation of forest management actions to accommodate climatic change.
2