Territorial configuration of the social actors involved in fire management in the Los Tuxtlas mountains (Mexico)

Abstract

In recent years, research which highlights the role of the different stakeholders, who participate in fire management, has gained importance. Recently, some studies have also incorporated a geographical approach, exploring the territorial aspects of this management. However, to date there is a lack of investigations in this regard in the world’s tropical areas. The present paper pretends to contribute to the filling of this knowledge gap, analysing the situation in recent years (2016-2020) in the Los Tuxtlas mountains (Mexico), an area with a remarkable incidence of forest fires. This is based on the review of official data and the application of interviews to representatives of the different actors. The processing of the data has included textual analysis, which has revealed the actors’ diverse management activities. A cartography of the organizational geography and the networks of cooperation has been presented to deepen the understanding of the actors’ territorial configuration. The results show areas with an outstanding presence of different actors and a dense social network, but also other zones with low or zero activity. Finally, the paper discusses the reasons of this configuration.