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InterCoast • Spring 2000
By Wendy Garpow
S
ustainability indicators are becoming common elements of
coastal zone management.There are ample models for monitoring
and evaluating the impacts of coastal management efforts see
InterCoast 29, Fall 1997, many of which offer lists of standardized
indicators. However, many stan- dardized indicators do not apply
to, nor represent specific commu- nities.This article presents a sum-
mary of an indicator-monitoring project and offers some lessons
learned in the continual quest for developing ideal site-specific sus-
tainability indicators.
Case Study: Akumal, Mexico
Akumal is the oldest tourism community on the Caribbean coast
of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.The town occupies 3.4 km of coast in
the center of the region known as the Riviera Maya, a 140-km corri-
dor from Cancun to Tulum. In between are white beaches and
dense jungles that are speckled with small independent towns,
tourism resorts, traditional Maya villages and ancient ruins. Like all
communities along the Rivieria Maya, Akumal is being faced with
increasing tourism development as Cancun’s tourism industry
expands. There appears to be an inverse
correlation between the number of tourists and the quality of Akumal’s
coastal environment.Tourism impacts Akumal’s marine environ-
ment through inadequate sewage treatment, increased impervious
surface, illegal landfilling, overfish- ing and the conversion of wetlands
and mangroves into land for con- dominiums and parking.
This research was undertaken to identify sustainability indicators
and develop a monitoring plan to explain the linkages between
Akumal’s tourism development and the condition of the marine envi-
ronment−particularly the coral reef.
Twenty-two sustainability indica- tors were identified following the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development OECD Pressure-State-Response
framework 1993. For these indicators, monitor-
ing protocols were devel- oped and baseline data was
collected for Akumal. Throughout the process,
the list of indicators and the monitoring plan were
continually refined to ensure the variables were
feasible, efficient and effec- tive.
Described are eight very basic, yet often ignored or misunder-
stood, approaches learned learning the process of defining and refining
indicators.
Eight Lessons Learned