Readiness and resistance : institutional adaptation of REDD+ and climate-smart agriculture in Indigenous communities of Oaxaca, Mexico

The effectiveness of conservation initiatives in Indigenous territories depends not only on their technical design but also on how they interact with existing governance systems, institutions, livelihoods, and relationships. Despite growing recognition of Indigenous governance in conservation, limited attention has been given to how community institutions shape readiness and resistance to external interventions and influence their adaptation. This dissertation examines these intersections through the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and associated Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices in four Indigenous communities of Oaxaca, Mexico. Using a comparative case-study approach, the research engaged 73 participants, including community authorities, farmers, local leaders, REDD+ representatives, and implementing organizations. The study used semi-structured interviews, focus groups, household surveys, countryside visits, and community validation to examine participation in REDD+, Indigenous Governance Mechanisms, and the adaptation of conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and silvopastoral practices. The findings show that Indigenous communities were not passive recipients of REDD+ but active agents who evaluated, negotiated, adapted, or resisted interventions according to community priorities and governance processes. Readiness and resistance emerged not as opposing outcomes, but as interconnected expressions of the same governance process. Indigenous Governance Mechanisms, including the Community Assembly, Cargo system, Tequio, Guzona, and Descargo, mediated collective decision-making, responsibilities, accountability, and the legitimacy of external interventions. Conservation practices were more likely to persist when they aligned with community institutions, livelihoods, knowledge, and socio-ecological conditions; where this institutional fit was weak, participation became selective, temporary, or resistant. This dissertation contributes a governance-based understanding of conservation adaptation by showing that institutional compatibility is constructed through negotiation rather than secured through technical design alone. It also identifies sustained relationality among communities, institutions, territory, knowledge, and collective responsibilities as a condition that extends beyond formal collaboration. Therefore, the research reframes Indigenous readiness and resistance as expressions of adaptive governance and argues for conservation approaches that are co-developed through, rather than imposed upon, the institutions that already sustain community life and territorial management.