Estuaries on the Edge, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Abstract

This case study addresses the different roles of NGOs in management to two of the most important coastal estuaries in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. These two biosphere reserves sustain an estimated 24,000 Caribbean flamingos that migrate between Ria Celestun (wintering site) and Ria Lagartos (breeding site). Both sites are also wintering sites for thousands of migratory waterfowl, which explains much of the international interest. Both sites are at the Neotropical edge and illustrate management issues typical of subtropical North and Central America. Although the Mexican government agencies play the dominant role in day-to-day management of these two biosphere reserves; international, national, and regional NGOs play major roles in research management decisions as well as management support. It should be noted that Amigos de Sian Ka'an, a regional Mexican NGO, collaborates in the management of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on the Caribbean side of the Yucatan Peninsula, but the author is much more familiar with the other two estuaries, Ria Celestun and Ria Lagartos.