GGUUIIDDEELLIINNEESS FFOORR LLOOWW--IIMMPPAACCTT TTOOUURRIISSMM AALLOONNGG TTHHEE CCOOAASSTT OOFF QQUUIINNTTAANNAA RROOOO,, MM(cid:201)(cid:201)XXIICCOO CCOONNCCEEPPCCII(cid:211)(cid:211)NN MMOOLLIINNAA PPAAMMEELLAA RRUUBBIINNOOFFFF JJOORRGGEE CCAARRRRAANNZZAA AAMMIIGGOOSS DDEE SSIIAANN KKAA’’AANN AA..CC.. CCOOAASSTTAALL RREESSOOUURRCCEESS CCEENNTTEERR,, UURRII IINNTTEEGGRRAATTEEDD CCOOAASSTTAALL RREESSOOUURRCCEESS MMAANNAAGGEEMMEENNTT PPRROOGGRRAAMM IINN QQUUIINNTTAANNAA RROOOO,, MM(cid:201)(cid:201)XXIICCOO 22000011 -- EENNGGLLIISSHH EEDDIITTIIOONN Amigos de Sian Ka'an A.C. Crepuscolo #18 esq. Amanecer SM 44, Mz. 13 Apdo Postal 770 Ffracc. Residencial Alborada C.P. 77506, Cancun, Quintana Roo Mexico Tel. & FAX: 52 (98) 80 60 24 (98) 48 16 18 (98) 48 21 36 (98) 48 15 93 [email protected] Coastal Resources Center University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus Narragansett, RI 02882, USA Tel.: (401) 874-6224 FAX: (401) 789-4670 http://crc.uri.edu [email protected] Photography Jorge Carranza Sánchez, Pam Rubinoff, Concepción Molina Islas, Arturo Romero Paredes, Jon C. Boothroyd, Marco Antonio Lazcano Barrero, Raúl Medina Díaz, Archivo ASK, Centro Ecologico Akumal Maps and Figures Francisco Javier Echeverría Díaz, Carlos Augusto Mendoza Polanco, Angel Alfonso Loreto Viruel Design Yalina Saldívar Vega Heidi Hall Barbosa de Blank Production - English Edition Communications Unit Coastal Resources Center University of Rhode Island AMIGOS DE SIAN KA'AN A.C. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Since the 1998 publication of the Spanish-language manual, Normas Prácticas para el Desarrollo Turístico de la Zona Costera de Quintana Roo, México, several workshops and meetings have been held in Mexico to outreach to the government, non-government and private sector stakeholders, including architects, engineers and developers. We would like to greatly acknowledge these colleagues and practitioners who support these concepts as a tool for minimizing impacts to the very resources they are marketing for tourism, and whom are using the manual in design, permitting, and construction of new infrastructure. Many past projects provided both the motivation and the material for developing the original Spanish manual. Input from the Coastal Resources Center’s past programs in Rhode Island, the United States and in countries worldwide, and success stories in best management practices being implemented globally, were invaluable to this effort. Additionally, many Mexican associates provided essential input to the initial Spanish manual, including Luis Hilario Pérez Quintal, Carlos Ojeda de la Fuente, Francisco Rosado May, Jorge Lobo Luzurriaga, Oscar Carreño Samsó, Edgar Cabrera Cano, Raúl Medina Díaz, Arturo Romero-Paredes Rubio, and William Souza Calderón. This joint project of the Amigos de Sian Ka’an A.C. and the Coastal Resources Center, relies on the agencies and institutions who utilize this manual to complement existing policy and regulations, including the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, Quintana Roo Secretariat of Urban Development and Environment, the Caleta de Xel-Ha y El Caribe Trust Fund, the National Water Commission, the municipality of Orton P. Blanco, and the University of Quintana Roo. This type of continued support and collaboration will help advance the use of low-impact practices in Quintana Roo. The support of our institutions has been critical to the development of both the Spanish and English manuals. At the Amigos de Sian Ka’an A.C., we would like to acknowledge the technical team whose expertise was tapped for providing the foundation of materials on the characterization and natural resources. We especially acknowledge the past director, Juan E. Bezaury Creel, who was instrumental in the conceptual design of the manual; Carlos Lopez, who has been instrumental COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER, URI in its use in Quintana Roo; Carelia Rodriguez, whose training and extension provided outreach of the document; and Marco Lazcano, the current executive director whose leadership has been essential to advance the concepts of resource management through good practices. At the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center, sincere thanks are given to Lynne Hale, Don Robadue, and Jennifer McCann for sharing their experiences in integrated coastal management and promoting tools such as this for implementing successful programs. We would also like to express great appreciation to the editorial team of Noelle Lewis, Patty O'Biso, Lesley Squillante and Chip Young who provided endless assistance and skill during the translation and editing from Spanish to English. Additionally, the support of Dr. Jon C. Boothroyd and Joseph P. Klinger provided valuable insight on the coastal geology that helped us better understand the coastal processes of Quintana Roo. The support of the United States Agency for International Development has gone beyond funding the manual and has included opportunities to demonstrate these practices to promote their use as a tool for integrated coastal management and sustainable development. AMIGOS DE SIAN KA'AN A.C. PREFACE Several initiatives have emerged in recent years that reaffirm the importance of conservation of our coastal zone. Mexico's National Policy and Strategy for Sustainable Tourism sets out the overall framework for applying a number of environmental policy instruments to this goal, for example the Environmental Strategy for Integrated Management of Mexico's Coastal Zone. Yet even with these important conservation efforts aimed at halting and mitigating environmental deterioration in the coastal zones of our country, we still face important challenges ahead. Current trends are leading towards increased levels of irreversible impact to these fragile ecological systems. Our environmental policy must be capable of achieving the national policy objective of growth with quality. Quintana Roo is perhaps one of the states that best exemplifies this situation. Practically all of the coastal zone has ecological zoning ordinances at different stages of preparation. In some of the regions, such as the Cancun-Tulum coastal corridor, the plan is being updated. In others, plans have just recently been approved, such as Costa Maya and the mainland portion of Isla Mujeres. Quintana Roo also created Mexico’s first biosphere reserve for the Sian Ka’an ecosystem. In sum, we have made important advances in our knowledge of coastal ecosystems and expanded our ability to identify acceptable limits on changes in natural processes through planning and regulatory tools. However, these measures are proving difficult to implement in practice. The complexity and magnitude of degradation of coastal ecosystems has made it clear that awareness of the problem of implementation be more widely appreciated. This will help in the search for leverage points and processes that will lead to sustainability, and help us foresee the indirect and long-term impacts of development. The possibility of incorporating tourism activity as a strategic component of economic development, depends on our capacity to correctly identify environmental requirements and conditions for its success. This insight requires taking an integrated focus that is sensitive to local situations and priorities, COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER, URI sufficiently flexible and receptive to the continuous changes that occur in the coastal systems, and that is reinforced with other outreach tools and environmental regulations. Mexico’s legal framework for addressing tourism is contained in its general approach for regulating the direct impacts of any form of development in order to insure conservation of biodiversity and the protection of its habitat. Specific regulations address the control of the water and air pollution and the generation of solid waste and noise. These policies and regulations cover a variety of tourist-generated impacts, including the development of tourism infrastructure projects, and the implementation of tourism activities and services. Official Mexican guidelines are now being prepared for the design, construction, and operation of marinas and golf courses. Other areas where progress is being made include the revision of the regulations governing the operation of municipal solid waste facilities and wastewater treatment plants in order to encourage the use of treated sludge as compost to improve soils or restore landscapes. Mexico is also working towards elimination of materials causing damage to the ozone layer; development of teams to fight forest fires; and preparing regulations for activities associated with wildlife as a tourism attraction such as hunting and bird watching. The certification of tourist installations in terms of the use of good practices that reduce environmental impact provides an opportunity to address the challenge of implementing environmental improvement programs. Through a strong promotion effort, it will be possible to build awareness of the high long- term costs of inadequate infrastructure planning and support for mitigation measures now. This book, Guidelines for Low-Impact Tourism Along the Coast of Quintana Roo, provides us with a practical tool that complements the other efforts being carried out by the private sector and government to reduce the pressures on coastal ecosystems, lower the costs of treating pollution, and open up new opportunities to address the energy crisis and attain a more efficient use of resources. Lic. Victor Lichtinger Waisman Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico June 2001 AMIGOS DE SIAN KA'AN A.C. TABLE OF CONTENTS Prologue i Introduction 1 100. Characteristics of Quintana Roo's Coastal Zone 9 110. Coral Reefs and Reef Lagoons 12 120. Beaches and Dunes 15 130. Wetlands and Coastal Lagoons 17 140. Sinkholes 19 150. Forests 20 200. The Coastal Processes of Quintana Roo 23 210. Sediment Transport 24 220. Natural Hazards 27 230. Groundwater 29 300. Siting Infrastructure Respective to Beaches and Dunes 33 310. Establish Construction Setbacks or Restricted Zones 35 320. Design Development to Complement Natural Conditions 38 330. Elevate Structures in Flood-prone Areas 40 340. Design Infrastructure to Withstand the Effects of Wind and Waves 41 350. Reduce the Impacts to Nesting Marine Turtles 42 400. Siting Infrastructure to Respect Wetlands 45 410. Design Development to Maintain the Function of Wetlands 48 420. Avoid Alterations that Reduce the Quality of Wetlands and Mangroves 49 430. Reduce Impacts from Land-based Runoffs 52 440. Reduce Discharge of Contaminants to Wetlands 53 450. Evaluate the Siting and Design of Piers 55 460. Use Integrated Methods to Develop Marinas 58 COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER, URI 500. Vegetation Management and Landscape Design 61 510. Evaluating Existing Physical Characteristics 64 520. Utilize Native Vegetation in Landscape Design 65 530. Eliminate the Use of Exotic Species 66 540. Replant Areas that are Devegetated 68 550. Maintain Buffer Zones 69 600. Use and Management of Potable Water and Wastewater 71 610. Optimize Design and Siting of Wells 73 620. Optimize Water Use 75 630. Reduce Contaminant Discharge to Water Bodies 79 640. Site Septic Systems at Appropriate Locations 80 650. Utilize Alternative Septic Systems to Enhance Treatment 81 700. Managing Solid Waste 83 710. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 85 720. Design Sanitary Landfills Appropriately 87 730. Identify Appropriate Locations for Landfills 87 800. Options for Alternative Energy 89 810. Options and Applications for Renewable Energy 91 820. Solar Power 92 830. Wind-generated Energy 93 840. Cost Comparisons 94 850. Implementing Renewable Energy Systems Without Environmental Impact 95 900. Applying Tourism Guidelines in Costa Maya 97 AMIGOS DE SIAN KA'AN A.C. PROLOGUE T his manual has been translated from the 1998 version of the Normas Prácticas para el Desarrollo Turístico de la Zona Costera de Quintana Roo, México as a reference for English-speaking stakeholders in Mexico and other regions of the world. The creation and promotion of the manual for tourism development in Mexico’s Caribbean coast has provided an invaluable tool that could be beneficial for other coastal managers experiencing similar challenges. Tools such as this manual contribute not only technical knowledge for sustainable coastal development—they are critical to the process of building and maintaining a constituency to develop strategies that will be effectively implemented in the future. As demonstrated over the past 25 years, tourism continues to be a flourishing economic development opportunity in Quintana Roo. While many economic benefits have been realized from Cancun, Playa del Carmen and other developments, there are lessons learned regarding planning, environmental protection and social impacts that can be drawn upon as new tourism destinations are developed in the southern part of the state. In Quintana Roo, tourism has been identified as the key force of change, driving the need to develop strategies that integrate economic development opportunities with conservation strategies. Planning documents and legal instruments established by the government provide a framework for resource management and development. In this sense, Quintana Roo has put itself in the vanguard of environmentally-friendly tourism, with its system of natural protected areas and the first ecological land zoning plans in Mexico. The challenge thus lies in developing effective governance mechanisms and implementation strategies which truly integrate tourism and conservation. This manual was initially conceived as a complementary, voluntary tool for promoting low-impact practices for new tourism infrastructure development. While developers often view regulations as disincentives for development, the Guidelines for Low-Impact Tourism Along the Coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico takes a positive approach. It outlines design and construction methods that result in the long-term reduction of costs to the environment and to maintaining tourism investments. Written with direct reference to the coastal resources found in the state of Quintana Roo, the manual provides COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER, URI i