Women, men, and children from the remote Mexican village of Ejido Pino Gordo this month walked 36 hours to the Chihuahua state capital to stage a sit-in at the governor’s palace and protest the illegal logging of forest land surrounding their village. Government officials were caught off guard by the protest and the ensuing media coverage, and announced a halt to illegal logging in the area, but much damage had already been done. The incident highlights the devastating impact of logging, legal and illegal, throughout Mexico, which has destroyed half of its forests in the last 40 years.
