Overview of IPLC communities in Mexico
In Mexico, IPLC territories can be categorized in two main groups.
First, the indigenous peoples living in Comunidades. These are the communities who descend from the populations that inhabited the Mexican territory before the colonial period and still preserve their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions. The territories of these communities are protected by law, as well as their culture, language and human rights. These areas are mainly regulated by articles 2 and 27 of Mexico’s Constitution (1917) as well as the Agrarian Law (1992).
Second, the peasant communities living in Ejidos. The ejidos are autonomous rural communities designed for small-scale farming. They can be based on individual or collective property, depending on their autonomous decision-making in the General Assemblies. There are no specific restrictions on the land-uses in these areas, apart from the farm size criteria and the focus on supporting family farming and avoiding land concentration in large-scale farms. These areas are mainly regulated by articles 2 and 27 of Mexico’s Constitution (1917) as well as the Agrarian Law (1992).
Amongst these IPLC territories in Mexico, there are 1979 georeferenced territories in public databases. All of those are documented and acknowledged by the government. The data available on these areas is from the National Agrarian Registro (RAN, Registro Agrario Nacional; available at https://datos.gob.mx/).
When sourcing from the IPLC areas of Mexico, companies should conduct their due diligence to ensure they are commercializing with the communities that are lawfully entitled to live in these territories; otherwise, companies incur the risk of dealing with unauthorized actors that might be violating land rights in these IPLC areas.
Contextualizing farms at risk
Indigenous Peoples | Comunidades Indígenas
Legal Basis
Article 2. The Mexican Nation is unique and indivisible.
The Nation has a multicultural composition originally based on its indigenous peoples, who are those descended from populations that inhabited the current territory of the country at the beginning of colonization and who maintain their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, or part of them.
The awareness of their indigenous identity must be a fundamental criterion to determine to whom the provisions on indigenous peoples apply.
Communities that make up an indigenous people are those that form a social, economic and cultural unit, settled in a territory and that recognize their own authorities in accordance with their customs and traditions.
The right of indigenous peoples to self-determination will be exercised within a constitutional framework of autonomy that ensures national unity. The recognition of indigenous peoples and communities will be made in the constitutions and laws of the federative entities, which must take into account, in addition to the general principles established in the previous paragraphs of this article, ethnolinguistic and physical settlement criteria.
Article 26. XV. Large estates are prohibited in the United Mexican States.
Small agricultural property is considered to be that which does not exceed one hundred hectares of irrigated or prime humidity per individual or its equivalent in other types of land.
For the purposes of equivalence, one hectare of irrigated land shall be computed for two hectares of rainfed land, for four hectares of good quality grazing land and for eight hectares of forest, woods or grazing land in arid lands.
Likewise, a small property shall be considered to be an area that does not exceed one hundred and fifty hectares per individual when the land is devoted to the cultivation of cotton, if it is irrigated; and three hundred hectares when it is devoted to the cultivation of bananas, sugar cane, coffee, henequen, rubber, palm, grapevine, olive, cinchona, vanilla, cocoa, agave, nopal or fruit trees.
A small livestock property shall be considered to be one that does not exceed, per individual, the surface area necessary to maintain up to five hundred heads of large cattle or its equivalent in small cattle, in the terms established by law, according to the forage capacity of the lands.
When, due to irrigation, drainage or any other works carried out by the owners or possessors of a small property, the quality of their lands has been improved, it shall continue to be considered a small property, even when, by virtue of the improvement obtained, the maximums indicated by this section are exceeded, provided that the requirements established by law are met.
When within a small livestock property improvements are made to its lands and these are destined for agricultural uses, the surface area used for this purpose may not exceed, as the case may be, the limits referred to in the second and third paragraphs of this section that correspond to the quality that said lands had before the improvement.
Article 27. VII. The legal personality of communal and ejido population centers is recognized and their ownership of land is protected, both for human settlement and for productive activities.
The law will protect the integrity of the lands of indigenous groups.
The law, considering the respect and strengthening of the community life of ejidos and communities, will protect the land for human settlement and will regulate the use of lands, forests and waters for common use and the provision of development actions necessary to raise the standard of living of its inhabitants.
The law, with respect to the will of the ejidatarios and commoners to adopt the conditions that best suit them in the use of their productive resources, will regulate the exercise of the rights of the commoners over the land and of each ejidatario over his plot.
It will also establish the procedures by which ejidatarios and commoners may associate among themselves, with the State or with third parties and grant the use of their lands; and, in the case of ejidatarios, transfer their land rights among the members of the population nucleus; it will also establish the requirements and procedures according to which the ejidal assembly will grant the ejidatario ownership over his parcel. In the case of alienation of parcels, the right of preference provided for by law will be respected.
Within the same population nucleus, no ejidatario may be the owner of more land than the equivalent of 5% of the total ejido lands. In any case, the ownership of land in favor of a single ejidatario must conform to the limits indicated in section XV.
The General Assembly (Asamblea General) is the supreme body of the ejidal or communal population nucleus, with the organization and functions that the law indicates. The Ejidal or Community Commissioner (Comisariado Ejidal o de Bienes Comunales), democratically elected in the terms of the law, is the representative body of the nucleus and responsible for executing the resolutions of the assembly.
The restitution of land, forests and water to population centres will be carried out in accordance with the regulatory law.
Article 106. The lands that belong to indigenous groups must be protected by the authorities, in accordance with the law that regulates article 4 and the second paragraph of section VII of article 27 of the constitution.
Mitigation Message
If the farm plot is located within a territory of Indigenous Peoples (Comunidades Indígenas, in the original language), this means that you are sourcing from an IPLC territory in Mexico. These territories are protected by indigenous jurisdiction and are mainly regulated by Mexico’s Constitution (1917) and the Agrarian Law (1992). To adequately carry out your due diligence, make sure your company has commercial relations with the Indigenous Peoples that lawfully occupy this area. Ensure that your company is trading with the Community’s General Assembly, the Community’s Commissioner, or with authorized associations, cooperatives or individual members. Avoid commercializing with unauthorized intermediaries or third parties that might be violating the land rights of Indigenous peoples.
Peasant Communities | Ejidos
Legal Basis
Article 2. The Mexican Nation is unique and indivisible.
The Nation has a multicultural composition originally based on its indigenous peoples, who are those descended from populations that inhabited the current territory of the country at the beginning of colonization and who maintain their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, or part of them.
The awareness of their indigenous identity must be a fundamental criterion to determine to whom the provisions on indigenous peoples apply.
Communities that make up an indigenous people are those that form a social, economic and cultural unit, settled in a territory and that recognize their own authorities in accordance with their customs and traditions.
The right of indigenous peoples to self-determination will be exercised within a constitutional framework of autonomy that ensures national unity. The recognition of indigenous peoples and communities will be made in the constitutions and laws of the federative entities, which must take into account, in addition to the general principles established in the previous paragraphs of this article, ethnolinguistic and physical settlement criteria.
Article 26. XV. Large estates are prohibited in the United Mexican States.
Small agricultural property is considered to be that which does not exceed one hundred hectares of irrigated or prime humidity per individual or its equivalent in other types of land.
For the purposes of equivalence, one hectare of irrigated land shall be computed for two hectares of rainfed land, for four hectares of good quality grazing land and for eight hectares of forest, woods or grazing land in arid lands.
Likewise, a small property shall be considered to be an area that does not exceed one hundred and fifty hectares per individual when the land is devoted to the cultivation of cotton, if it is irrigated; and three hundred hectares when it is devoted to the cultivation of bananas, sugar cane, coffee, henequen, rubber, palm, grapevine, olive, cinchona, vanilla, cocoa, agave, nopal or fruit trees.
A small livestock property shall be considered to be one that does not exceed, per individual, the surface area necessary to maintain up to five hundred heads of large cattle or its equivalent in small cattle, in the terms established by law, according to the forage capacity of the lands.
When, due to irrigation, drainage or any other works carried out by the owners or possessors of a small property, the quality of their lands has been improved, it shall continue to be considered a small property, even when, by virtue of the improvement obtained, the maximums indicated by this section are exceeded, provided that the requirements established by law are met.
When within a small livestock property improvements are made to its lands and these are destined for agricultural uses, the surface area used for this purpose may not exceed, as the case may be, the limits referred to in the second and third paragraphs of this section that correspond to the quality that said lands had before the improvement.
Article 27. VII. The legal personality of communal and ejido population centers is recognized and their ownership of land is protected, both for human settlement and for productive activities.
The law will protect the integrity of the lands of indigenous groups.
The law, considering the respect and strengthening of the community life of ejidos and communities, will protect the land for human settlement and will regulate the use of lands, forests and waters for common use and the provision of development actions necessary to raise the standard of living of its inhabitants.
The law, with respect to the will of the ejidatarios and commoners to adopt the conditions that best suit them in the use of their productive resources, will regulate the exercise of the rights of the commoners over the land and of each ejidatario over his plot.
It will also establish the procedures by which ejidatarios and commoners may associate among themselves, with the State or with third parties and grant the use of their lands; and, in the case of ejidatarios, transfer their land rights among the members of the population nucleus; it will also establish the requirements and procedures according to which the ejidal assembly will grant the ejidatario ownership over his parcel. In the case of alienation of parcels, the right of preference provided for by law will be respected.
Within the same population nucleus, no ejidatario may be the owner of more land than the equivalent of 5% of the total ejido lands. In any case, the ownership of land in favor of a single ejidatario must conform to the limits indicated in section XV.
The General Assembly (Asamblea General) is the supreme body of the ejidal or communal population nucleus, with the organization and functions that the law indicates. The Ejidal or Communal Property Commissioner (Comisariado Ejidal o de Bienes Comunales), democratically elected in the terms of the law, is the representative body of the nucleus and responsible for executing the resolutions of the assembly.
The restitution of land, forests and water to population centres will be carried out in accordance with the regulatory law.
Article 9. The ejido population centers or ejidos have legal personality and their own assets and are the owners of the lands that have been endowed to them or of those that they have acquired by any other title.
Article 10. The ejidos operate in accordance with their internal regulations, with no more limitations on their activities than those provided by law. Their regulations shall be registered in the National Agrarian Registry, and must contain the general bases for the economic and social organization of the ejido that are freely adopted, the requirements for admitting new ejidatarios, the rules for the use of lands for common use, as well as other provisions that according to this law must be included in the regulations and others that each ejido considers pertinent.
Article 11. The collective exploitation of communal lands may be adopted by an ejido when its assembly so resolves, in which case the provisions relating to the way of organizing the work and the exploitation of the resources of the ejido must be previously established, as well as the mechanisms for the equitable distribution of benefits, the constitution of capital reserves, social security or services and those that make up the common funds.
Collective ejidos already established as such or that adopt collective exploitation may modify or terminate the collective regime by means of a resolution of the assembly, in accordance with the terms of article 23 of this law.
Article 14. The ejidatarios have the right to use and enjoy their plots, have the rights that the internal regulations of each ejido grant them over the other ejido lands and also have any other rights legally granted to them.
Article 21. The ejido bodies are: I. The assembly; II. The ejido commissioner; and III. The surveillance council.
Article 45. Ejidal lands may be the subject of any association or use contract entered into by the ejidal population nucleus, or by the ejidatarios owners, depending on whether the land is for common use or divided into parcels, respectively. Contracts that imply the use of ejidal lands by third parties will have a duration in accordance with the corresponding productive project, not exceeding thirty years, renewable.
Mitigation Message
If the farm plot is located within a territory of a Peasant Community (Ejidos, in the original language), this means that you are sourcing from an IPLC territory in Mexico. These territories are mainly regulated by Mexico’s Constitution (1917) and the Agrarian Law (1992). To adequately carry out your due diligence, make sure your company has commercial relations with the local communities that lawfully occupy this area. Ensure that your company is trading with the Ejido’s General Assembly, the Ejido’s Commissioner, or with authorized associations, cooperatives or individual members. Avoid commercializing with unauthorized intermediaries or third parties that might be violating the land rights of Indigenous peoples.