Project write up: Community Organization Processes in Socio-Environmental Conflict Matrices in the Sierra de Zongolica and the Yucatán Peninsula: Toward Alternative Territorial Models (2025)

Carlos Alberto López Arcadia

In recent decades, many Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) across Latin America have reexamined traditional understandings of landscape, moving from static and isolated views toward relational and dynamic conceptions. These perspectives highlight the continual transformation of landscapes, shaped through interactions with both territorial and extraterritorial actors. In this context, IPLCs have proposed alternative territorial models grounded in ecological justice and self-determination, rooted in their own cosmologies and ways of life. These models have emerged amid socio-environmental conflicts, where communities often face imposed extractivist or conservationist projects that threaten their landscapes and governance systems. Such interventions undermine Indigenous decision-making, impacting their well-being, cultural practices, and territorial integrity.

This study aims to analyse how community organization processes unfold in two Indigenous communities in Mexico within socio-environmental conflict contexts, and how these contribute to building their own alternative territorial models.

Objectives:

• Examine how socio-environmental conflicts influence community organization processes.

• Explore the role of dynamic territorial and extraterritorial factors in shaping these processes.

• Understand how local needs, aspirations, and visions contribute to the collective planning of territorial alternatives.

• Share findings among academic, policy, and grassroots audiences to support the recognition of Indigenous-led landscape governance.