Studies of land-use/land cover change are an important means for examining the viability of community-based programs for forest conservation, although an analysis of the social processes influencing land-use decisions is necessary to understand the factors leading to different conservation outcomes.
In this paper, we demonstrate that an analysis of locally recognized land-use rules and regulations embedded in local institutions can inform remote-sensing approaches by helping: (1) to elucidate some of the local perceptions, criteria and interactions with outside agencies that drive conservation actions and (2) to better interpret the spatial patterns of land-use change and forest conservation revealed by remote-sensing data. Based on a case study of a forest ejido from the Maya Zone of Quintana Roo, Mexico, we evaluate changes in forest cover and in local land-use regulations before and after the initiation in the mid-1980s of a community forestry program, the Plan Piloto Forestal (PPF). Methods included development of a time series of land cover maps based on LANDSAT imagery from 1976, 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2000, as well as interviews and participant observation with local farmers and community leaders.