Mexico strengthens communities' involvement in forest monitoring with Open Foris Arena

Mexico is reinforcing its forest monitoring capacities – a vital step for the nearly 12 million people, including 3.6 million Indigenous Peoples, who depend on forests for their livelihoods. 

In August 2024, FAO provided a dedicated training on Open Foris Arena, FAO’s open-source platform for field data collection and analysis and funded under the “AIM4Forests: Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests” programme funded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Twenty-five specialists from the National Forestry Commission of Mexico (CONAFOR) learned how to design surveys, collect data with Arena Mobile, and integrate statistical analysis directly into their workflows.  

Temperate forests, rainforests, mangroves, and arid and semi-arid ecosystems cover 65.7 million hectares (ha) of Mexico (70.6 percent of its territory) (FRA, 2020). Of this area, 38.5 million ha are owned by Indigenous Peoples (FRA, 2020). These ecosystems produce timber and non-timber forest products, generate a multitude of ecosystem services and provide employment opportunities throughout the country.  

As part of measures to boost productivity in the sector, CONAFOR supports forest landowners and holders by preparing management plans and technical studies for the sustainable use of timber and non-timber resources through the Sustainable Forest Development for Wellbeing Programme. CONAFOR regularly monitors national forest resources to provide policymakers with information on the achievement of national targets in the forest sector – including restoration efforts and sustainable forest management – by implementing a community-based approach to forest monitoring. 

Building capacity for data collection and analysis 

Mexico conducted its first national forest inventory from (NFI) 1961 to 1985, and another three between 1991 and 2000. Since 2004, CONAFOR has conducted three sampling cycles of Mexico's National Forest and Soils Inventory (INFyS) to generate data supporting decision-making in the forestry sector. 

Managing a NFI is a technically demanding exercise. It requires the organization of large field campaigns across Mexico’s varied ecosystems, often involving hundreds of staff and year-long efforts to collect and compile data. Arena helps governments meet these challenges by offering a free, open-source system tailored to NFI needs, enabling survey design, mobile-based field data collection, data management and direct integration of statistical analysis. 

Participants highlighted that one of the most valuable outcomes of the training was the development of technical capacities across different departments of CONAFOR. Specialists gained hands-on experience in redesigning the data collection survey of the INFyS, originally implemented in Open Foris Collect, and adapting it for use in Arena.  

 “One of the most valuable learnings from the training was the development of technical capacities among specialists from various areas within CONAFOR, each with specific needs to implement agile data collection systems through a mobile application”, highlighted Armando Alanís, head of CONAFOR.  

This process led to the creation of an institutional community of practice within CONAFOR, where teams exchange knowledge and collaborate on continuous improvements to survey design.  

From training to practice: Arena in action  

CONAFOR is now exploring the use of Arena for a broad range of tasks beyond INFyS. These include monitoring and supervising programmes on commercial forest plantations, forest environmental services, fire management, forest restoration, community forest management, supply chains and the processing of forest products.  

Knowledge has already been transferred to colleagues across CONAFOR. For instance, the Regional Operations Unit received support with designing new surveys, including a new module that is being developed to measure herbaceous and shrub biomass for livestock forage within community-led INFyS activities.  

Strengthening community monitoring  

Mexico is advancing a community forest monitoring approach that empowers local units and agrarian groups to participate in data collection. With Arena Mobile, communities can collect information more efficiently and ensure data quality, while also strengthening local governance and ownership of forest resources.  

 “Very recently, we have also begun working on involving local communities in field data collection, through units that they themselves form within their communities and supported by Open Foris Arena mobile”, emphasized Armando Alanís.  

 Arena Mobile is specifically designed to make this possible, allowing offline data collection in remote areas and ensuring seamless integration into the national system. This approach is already being piloted in several states and will be expanded through the Balsas Watershed Project.  

Looking ahead  

The main goal for Mexico is to establish a robust and integrated system for efficient and transparent forest data collection under the community monitoring model. By using Arena, CONAFOR aims to ensure that information generated at the local level can directly contribute to national decision-making and, in the near future, to international reporting processes such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and REDD+.  

“One year after receiving this training, we are preparing to launch a new phase of field data collection with new forest communities in Mexico, and we are confident that using Open Foris Arena for data collection forms will be one of our main tools to ensure quality”, Armando Alanís, head of the National Forest Monitoring System (CONAFOR).   

There is growing interest within CONAFOR and among local forest producers in expanding the use of Arena. Requests for further training and technical support reflect a multiplier effect: Arena could not only strengthen national forest monitoring capacities, but also build bridges between institutions, communities and the broader forest sector.  

The forest monitoring community is eager to see how Mexico’s use of Arena could strengthen national systems, empower communities and generate data that directly supports decision-making.