Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota: Volume 4, Ecosystem-Based Management

22 Toward a Regional Program for ICZM in the Mexican Area of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean

417 ≋ However, the lack of planning and lack of integrated management have permitted environmental degradation and loss of valuable ecosystems and regional resources in the last 20 years (Yáñez-Arancibia and Rojas Galavíz 1990; Botello et al. 1992; Botello et al. 1996; Zárate Lomeli et al. 1996; Zárate Lomeli et al. 1999; INE-SEMARNAT 2000; Caso et al. 2004; Zárate Lomeli 2004; Zárate Lomeli et al. 2004; Botello et al. 2005; Zárate Lomeli 2006), creating uncertainty for sustainable development of the region. In the mid-1990s, coastal management issues were on the national agenda and a number of explanatory publications appeared (Yáñez-Arancibia and Rojas Galavíz 1990; Yáñez-Arancibia,Rojasetal.1993;Yáñez-Arancibia1999a, 1999b; Yáñez-Arancibia, Lara-Domínguez et al. 1999; Cicin-Sain and Rivera Arriaga 2000; INE-SEMARNAT 2000; Rivera Arriaga and Zárate Lomelí 2000; YáñezArancibia 2000; Yáñez-Arancibia, Day et al. 2000; Azuz Adeath and Rivera Arriaga 2002; Rivera Arriaga et al. 2004). The environmental agenda of the country for 1994–2000 called for addressing key problems in the federal coastal zone (Zona Federal Maritima Terrestre, ZOFEMAT), i.e., a 20-m-wide strip above the high-water mark, and included the need to clarify ownership and establish management responsibilities along the Mexican coast. New legislation guided federal agencies in the management of fisheries, wildlife, forests, and the federal coastal zone. The Mexican coastal zone management program has subsequently focused on settling title disputes and collecting revenues from concessions while other fedThirty percent of the 11,593 km Mexican littoral zone corresponds to the coastal zone of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (Zárate Lomelí et al. 1999; Caso et al. 2004; Zárate Lomelí et al. 2004). This is a very valuable region for the country in ecological, social, and economic terms because of its: • Great diversity of ecosystems and species (Day and Yáñez-Arancibia 1988; Yáñez-Arancibia and Day 1988; Yáñez-Arancibia, Rojas et al. 1993; YáñezArancibia , Lara-Domínguez et al. 2004; Caso et al. 2004), • Natural resources and a shared binational vision (Weber et al. 1992; Yáñez-Arancibia and SánchezGil 1992; Kumpf et al. 1999), • Habitats and natural protected areas (Caso et al. 2004; Bezaury Creel 2005), • Social and urban pressure inducing land value speculation (León and Rodríguez 2004), • Development of important economic activities including food, energy (resulting in high economic value), and resulting pollution (resulting in low economic value) (Botello et al. 1996; Adams et al. 2004; Sánchez-Gil et al. 2004; Botello et al. 2005; Yáñez-Arancibia et al. 2009) and, • Need for educating coastal managers on the high economic value of the Gulf of Mexico region to prepare the next generation (Yáñez-Arancibia and Lara-Domínguez 1995). 22 Toward a Regional Program for ICZM in the Mexican Area of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean An Analysis Revisiting Two Decades of Publications David Zárate Lomelí, Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia, John W. Day, Patricia Sánchez-Gil, Hector Alafita Vásquez, and José J. Ramírez Gordillo 418 ~ Zárate Lomelí, Yáñez-Arancibia, Day, Sánchez-Gil, Alafita Vásquez, and Ramírez Gordillo (now the Coastal Ecosystems Unit), established the terms of reference for defining and implementing the Program ICZM-Gulf/Caribbean (Yáñez-Arancibia and Zárate Lomelí 2001; Zárate Lomelí and Yáñez-Arancibia 2003). The fundamentals were (1) the scientific, economic , social, and geopolitical importance of the region; (2) the agreements of Mexico in its national and international agenda that the Gulf is a Large Marine Ecosystem ; (3) scientific knowledge on coastal vulnerability, ecological integrity, coastal risks, and uncertainly for sustainable development; (4) the framework of both federal and state environmental and economic regulations; and (5) the linkage between academic, social, economic, and legal sectors of the Mexican states in the coastal zone of the Gulf and the Caribbean. Following this initiative for formulation, formalization , implementation, evaluation, and definition of priorities for the ICZM program, SEMARNAT and INECOL created the Panel ICZM-Gulf/Caribbean as a regional initiative of permanent working groups for developing the terms of reference for an integrated coastal management (ICM) plan for the coastal zone of the Gulf of Mexico, which has “integration” as the key word through 6 basic levels of integration: (1) between sectors (coast–land and coast–sea activities); (2) between the land and aquatic...