This investigation explores certification at the local scale in
Chiapas in order to better understand land use change and the
relationship between agriculture and forests in Mexico.
The goal is to open a dialog about how organic certification can
serve as a control mechanism for deforestation globally.
To start, we ask what are the economic and environmental benefits
of organic coffee certification? And followed that with the
question, how do the differences between conventional and
organic production in price, yield, and practice factor into
the land use conversation? Further, we ask how land use
change is measured and by who. In order to work toward
mitigating climate change in the Mexican coffee sector, it is
imperative to start with coffee’s history and its relationship
with land use change over the course of Mexican land reform.