Cultural ecosystem services of the cenotes of the municipality of Tulum, Quintana Roo: uses, benefits and threats

Abstract

(DL). Ecosystem services are conceptualized as all those processes, goods, values and services that humans extract tangibly and intangibly from the different ecosystems distributed throughout the world. Some ecosystems are peculiar and of local or regional importance, as is the case of the cenotes (flooded sinkholes), characteristic of the Yucatan Peninsula and of great importance for the provision of diverse ecosystem services, such as tourism and recreation, classified within the category of cultural services, the subject of interest of this article. The objective was to analyze the cultural ecosystem services of the cenotes, the implications of their use and the threats to which they are exposed, the human-nature relationship and their socioeconomic importance in the territories of greatest tourist growth, such as the municipality of Tulum, where tourist activities are developed around natural spaces created for the promotion of culture, such as its beaches, archaeological zones, cenotes and caves. The research is descriptive and exploratory with a methodological process divided into three phases: 1) literature search and review in specialized search engines, websites and web pages, as well as consultation of databases on archaeo-paleontological findings of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and inventory of cenotes of the civil association Amigos de Sian Ka’an; 2) identification of cenotes with the highest number of visits through the database Amigos Sian Ka’an and data obtained from Google Earth. In this phase of the process, the InVEST spatial tool was useful to calculate visitation rates and focus the research on the cenotes with the highest number of visits, and 3) classification of cenotes according to geographic location, dissolution processes, and a proposal based on infrastructure and accessibility. All the cartographic information presented in the work was processed in QGis3 and ArcGis 10.8 geographic information systems. Among the results obtained we can highlight that the highest number of visits was registered in Casa Cenote, Gran Cenote, Calavera, Dos Ojos, Yal Ku and Karwash, mainly classified as pristine and coastal, with private administration, development of tourist infrastructure inside and outside the facilities, accessibility and proximity to population centers. Two cultural ecosystem services were identified in the cenotes: a) tourism-recreation, whose main beneficiaries are tourists, the working population, owners and locals. The most important tourist activities are snorkeling, scuba diving, free swimming, paddleboarding, flora and fauna observation, hiking and zip-lining; b) education-research, encouraged by archeological and paleontological findings from the Pleistocene or Ice Age in caves and caverns, as well as the discovery of complex systems of interconnected subway rivers. This ecosystem service has a global impact, as shown by new theories and a greater knowledge of the past, the present and its prospections, together with the growing multidisciplinary and scientific interest in karst ecosystems. Specialized diving, both as exploration by researchers and as an extreme sport for tourists, mainly foreigners, has grown to the point that there are training and certification companies, specialized equipment rental stores and specialized diving guides. A complex organization in the provision of tourism services and chain benefits was analyzed, as well as negative impacts derived mainly from the overcrowding of cenotes, legal loopholes and weak management. However, Tulum is a tourist destination with a segment linked to the search for inner harmony, connection with culture and care for the environment, a situation that can be taken advantage of to give the cenotes a more sustainable use and highlight spirituality, appreciation of nature, landscape, art, identity and belonging, among other cultural ecosystem services.