CLOUD FOREST CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT: COFFEE PRODUCTION AGROECOSYSTEMS

Abstract

In México, the distribution of cloud forest or mountain mesophyll forest (MMF) coincides with that of shade-grown coffee (Coffea arabica L.) production. In this study, we discuss the way in which agroforestry coffee systems (ACS) can help MMF conservation, considering them as reservoirs of biodiversity, environmental services for the forest that the ACS displaced, fostering the regeneration potential; they are also a source of productive diversification that increases regional social welfare and therefore decreases the pressure on the MMF remnants. The productive diversification is exemplified with the research-action lines: use of timber-yielding native trees and exploitation of epiphytes in rustic nurseries