Geographic location. The work was carried out in the municipality of Calakmul, and specifically in the buffer zone of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve located in the state of Campeche Mexico between coordinates 17˚50'11" and 19˚10'32" of North Latitude and 89˚19''05' and 90˚09'08" of West Longitude. Bordered to the south by the Republic of Guatemala, to the west by the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and to the east by the state of Quintana Roo Mexico (Figure 1). The area is considered as the second largest area of tropical forests in America, only surpassed by the Amazon rainforest.

As part of the investigation, documents, work plans and reports related to the Model Forest Program in Calakmul, as well as statistical information and maps of the region.

Research Strategy. Due to the time proposed to carry out this study, it was decided to divide the research into two parts: one documentary and one field.

In the documentary, bibliographic files were made on plans, documents and the Calakmul Model Forest program.

For the field work, structured interviews were designed and directed to key informants as follows: four to technicians responsible for the projects of each of the subprograms; four to key informants from the ejidos selected for their active participation in various projects and finally four to the directors of the Regional Counsil for Pastoral and Agroforestry Systems of X’pujil Campeche. The questions were aimed at capturing information about the planning process for the sustainable management of natural resources, organization and peasant participation, technology, land use and available resources, mainly [7] [8] [9] .

According to the data obtained in the field work, a descriptive analysis of the study was made with the purpose of know the intensity of peasants’ participation in sustainable management tasks of their own natural resources.

The work strategy of planning is mainly based on peasant organization and participation. Practical planning begins with the participation of the total farmers from the attached communities. This is done in the General Assembly where, through a consensual and democratic process, the most urgent tasks are well defined and prioritized.

At the General Assembly of Delegates, the communities’ requests are presented out loud and are received by signature and seal of the RAFSX, who gives a written response to the Delegate according to the nature of the request. The RAFSX/CMF analyzes and determines the response for each of the requests.

Once the needs are analysed and aproved the RAFSX/CMF indicates to the responsible technician, together with the council directors, to execute the field actions per each aproved project (Figure 2).

Peasant participation in BMC improved over time, going from 17 ejidos in 1990 to 51 ejidos (71%) in 1996 (Figure 3); The land allocations and the number of ejidatarios per ejido are variable.

Of the total participating ejidos, 36 have established permanent communal forest areas, in order to manage rationally the harvest of timber and non-timber, fauna and archaeological resources. However, more than 66% (24) have permanent forest areas of less than 1000 hectares, 25% (9) between 1001 and 10,000 hectares and only 9% (3) have areas greater than 10,000 hectares that can be subject to a sustainable management.

An important component to support planning for the sustainable management of natural resources has been the active participation of other institutions, with the same interest as the RAFSX/CMF. These institutions contribute with funds and/or technical support for several projects (Table 1).

The peasant communities of Mexico are characterized by the lack of economic resources and infrastructure for their healthy development; in addition, their natural resources are at constant risk of degradation. The jungles of Calakmul have been used for Shifting Cultivation (Slash and Burn Agriculture) since the times of the Mayan civilization. In 1900 onwards began to be intensively exploited for “dye stick”, the latex of chewing gum and the selective extraction of cedar and mahogany [10] .

The area of influence of the CMF is concentrated in 380 thousand hectares; in 1993, only 36% was covered by high, medium and low forests. 64% of the surface was intervened by man, dedicating 80 thousand hectares to agricultural activities, populated areas and roads, while 162 thousand were covered with secondary vegetation, with ages between 1 and 20 years, a product of the Slash and Burn and accidental fires [11] . The predominant soils in the region are very thin, deficient in phosphorus, stony and with low moisture retention like the stony Leptosols and other soils such as the flooded Vertisols, difficult to manage.

Surface water sources are non-existent, underground water sources are difficult to use and are of poor quality. Rainfall is erratic, with a dry period of six months (November to April). Families have between 30 to 50 hectares of land to carry out their productive activities. These may include areas potentially for mechanization, diversified fruit orchards, reforested surfaces, grazing areas and areas for migratory agriculture, as well as jungle.

In the backyards, of around thousand square meters, are cultivated fruit and timber trees, vegetables and medicinal plants. Some animals like pigs and chickens are raised. In addition, many communities have permanent forest areas for communal use for timber production, fauna or ecotourism. In the region, there were 72 communities that support 16 thousand people; half of these are children under 15 years of age and 80% of economically active individuals working in the agricultural and forestry sector. On the other hand, there is a strong exchange of labor between families in the community that may or may not be paid.

More than two thousand farmers from 51 communities participate in the 35 training projects developed by the RAFSX/CMF. There is a staff of 32 people in the RAFSX/CMF including managers and technicians.

The infrastructure for field production is deficient. The CMF area is located more than 100 km from the nearest cities so marketing of products is a big problem. Roads are very rustic so vehicular traffic is complicated. There are no telephone or mail services within the area and there are a small number of vehicles that offer transportation services [12] . Although there are several government institutions providing very low economic subsidies, it is very limited to achieve sustainable development.

Most of the activities carried out by farmers are for self-consumption. The economic resources that peasant families obtain, as a product of their agricultural and forestry activities, are temporary and scarce. This is the main reason that the RAFSX/CMF has been allocating a high percentage of its economic resources to: the establishment of agro forestry plots, reforestation and organic agriculture, development of beekeeping, intensive livestock farming, ecotourism, craft projects and support of spicy cultivation.