Out-migration and commons management: social and ecological change in a high biodiversity region of Oaxaca, Mexico

Commons scholarship has done a poor job of studying drivers of change, their impact on commons institutions, and how these institutions and other social arrangements are responding to such change. This paper examines the multiple impacts that demographic and cultural change through human out-migration is having on a commons regime in a high-biodiversity region of Oaxaca, Mexico. The findings suggest that the region's forest communities face an uncertain future. While change through out-migration can undermine traditional governance systems and erode social and cultural reproduction, innovative institutional adaptations and the existence of strong transnational ties may help reduce community vulnerability. Within this context, the paper discusses the implications for land use and forest biodiversity, and in doing so adds a new layer of complexity to the body of work examining the consequences of rural depopulation on Mexican forest landscapes.