Public demands, environmental perceptions, and natural resource management in Mexico's tropical lowlands

Abstract

The study was carried out to elicit the will of inhabitants of grazing areas in coastal lowlands of East Mexico
regarding their values and preferences for actions of conservation or economic development. A comprehensive
structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from 199 rural and urban inhabitants of lowlands in central
Veracruz, Mexico. Several environmental policy scenarios were proposed and respondents ranked their
preferences. Mean age was 41.6 ± 17.0 years- old. Mean annual income was USD$ 4,530.2 ± 4.953. Rural residents
were indifferent to urban landscapes, but urban residents considered the quality of life in urban environments as
good. Both groups graded as good rural landscapes, quality of natural resources, and abundance of natural
resources. Policies of previous governments were graded as bad, but recent government efforts received a better
grade. People think (52%) that cattlemen ignore environmental problems and often act by economic instead of
ecologic criteria. Urban population (65%) favored potential approval of legislation to regulate the use of natural
resources in grazing areas, but rural residents (15%) did not. Proposed mechanisms to enforce environmental laws
were to subsidize livestock producers (82%), rangeland appropriation of areas of ecological value (33%),
environmental education (25%), and severe fines to offenders (14%)