Interdisciplinary criteria and indicators to identify priorities for beach and dune management

Abstract

The expansion of human activities and the impacts they have on the coast necessitate decision-making tools that consider ecological, physical and socioeconomic variables, including legal, administrative and technological aspects. This paper presents a group of diverse indicators, which are considered critical in determining management priorities in coastal zones. For a strip of land, five km wide from the coast, covering nine municipalities in Veracruz, Mexico, we analyzed the physical environment (coastal dynamics, alteration of sediment sources, beach and dune characteristics, sediment dynamics), the biological environment (species composition, structure of plant communities and aspects of the environmental performance of beaches, dunes, water bodies and wetlands), and socioeconomic conditions (human development index, total number of inhabitants, number of communities vulnerable to extreme weather events, the proportion of people living in rural areas, the number of hectares planted, and the economic value per hectare of that production, and the vulnerability of primary, secondary and tertiary economic sectors). A methodology was obtained to identify environmental problems and offer the best management options for each coastal cell. This paper gives fine detail of the work done in the nine coastal cells of one municipality and goes on to explain the final, integrated information in a table with three vulnerability conditions, shown in the map as the colors dark grey, light grey and white, for the 44 cells in all nine municipalities. The combined indicators serve as a decision-making tool in highlighting and listing the activities that should be favored, and which avoided, in the beach dune system there, as well as indicating any restrictions necessary. The proposed method, based on interdisciplinary analysis, provides the basis for a better decision-making process, which will enhance sustainability in coastal areas.