Coastal and Marine Planning: The Gulf of California, Mexico, Case

Jose Luis Ferman (1), Alejandro Garcia (1), Ileana Espejel (2), Antonio Cruz (3), Oscar Arizpe (4), Georges Seingier (1)

(1) Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Facultad de Ciencias Marinas (MX)
(2) Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Facultad de Ciencias (MX)
(3) Universidad de Sonora, DICTUS (MX)
(4) Universidad Autonoma de Baja Califonria Sur (MX)

The Gulf of California's environmental planning project began in 1999 as a response from the National Environmental Agency (SEMARNAT) to the approval in the Mexican Environmental Law (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecologico y Proteccion al Ambiente) in 1997, of the coastal and marine planning project. Starting 2001, the three phases of this task are: The Marine planning project and The Coastal Planning Project. In this paper we present the preliminary outcomes of these projects. The methodological framework is based on three major techniques, under a Geographic Information System Tool: Environmental zoning, environmental index (pressure, state, fragility and vulnerability) evaluation and environmental policy allocation. The environmental policies considered were protection, conservation and development, as recognized on a national level by SEMARNAT. The marine part of the study area considered waters of the coastal States of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa. This 260,000 km2 marine area was zoning according to hydro dynamical, bathymetrical and productivity characteristics and lead to the definition of 134 marine environmental units (70 in the Gulf of California and 54 on the Pacific side of the Peninsula). According to a unit's index evaluation, a model was run to allocate environmental policies, resulting in 68% of total marine area suitable for development, 15% for conservation and 17 % for protection. The land part of the study area was defined by a 20 km inland buffer of the coastline of the above mentioned States. A zoning process based on hydrology and administrative limits as well as the official 1:50,000 grid scale of National Geography Agency (INEGI) defined the terrestrial units, linked to a socio-economic and biophysical database. The environmental policies analysis model application resulted in 35% area coverage for protection policy, 45% for conservation and 25% for development policy. The high value for protection is representative of the numerous natural protected areas in the region.