Land Cover in a Managed Forest Ecosystem : Mexican Shade Coffee

Managed forest ecosystems like shade coffee supply valuable ecological services. Yet little is known about the drivers and characteristics of clearing in such systems. We present a spatial econometric analysis of land cover in a shade coffee region in southern Mexico. We find that plots close to large cities are less likely to be cleared all other things being equal - the opposite of the pattern usually observed in natural forests. In addition, we find that membership in coffee-marketing cooperatives, farm size, and certain soil types are associated with tree cover, while proximity to small town centers is associated with clearing