Prioritization for Cloud Forest Conservation in Mexico

Cloud Forests (Bosque de Niebla) are ecosystems with restricted distribution and high biodiversity, which are also highly threatened due to land use change. Our aim was to evaluate and prioritize remaining cloud forest fragments for the long-term conservation, combining threats and the potential response capacity of the existing conservation instruments in Mexico as a triage tool. Threat levels were based upon an estimation of the human footprint for Mexico. The response capacity was estimated based on the presence of different conservation instruments in each fragment. Once obtained the triage level for all fragments, those were then cataloged by ecoregions. Results indicate that the area of 'primary' cloud forest has been reduced by 53-73%. Only 31.6% of the cloud forest (including primary and secondary forest) is currently under some protection scheme. We identified a group of cloud forest fragments in the Pacific slope that require special attention due to their reduced coverage and high level of priority. Currently, Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero and Oaxaca, Los Altos de Chiapas, Sierra Madre Oriental and Central Mexico ecoregions concentrate the largest coverage area of cloud forest and more than 70% of their coverage was qualified as priority areas to implement conservation measures.