Cultural landscapes in Pantelhó, Chiapas: the construction of territorial diversity

The cultural landscape is composed of physical elements and cultural expressions of a given human group, in a specific territory. To recognize changes in the landscape, we analyze the sociocultural dynamics of two localities in the municipality of Pantelhó, where three cultural groups coexist: the mestizo and Tsotsil Maya population in the Pantelhó ejiodo, and the Tseltal Maya in the locality of San Fernando. In this research, we identify different forms of territorial appropriation, which allows us to recognize and understand the landscape mosaic in a given time and space. Cultural landscapes are classified with reference to different human activities and changes in the forest cover between the years 1970 and 2012, evaluated with aerial and satellite images. The utility of this research lies in its potential as a resource for decision-making, and that it can favor sustainable rural development at a local and municipal level, by taking into account how the local population has historically influenced the territory.