Multifaceted Measures of Success in Two Mexican Marine Protected Areas

Abstract

ABSTRACT An emerging trend within the international conservation community suggests that the “success” of protected areas should be measured by strictly biological and/or ecological indicators. These “objective” measures, however, may only represent the objectives of one group of stakeholders—conservationists. Many of the stakeholders recently involved in creating two national marine parks in Quintana Roo, Mexico, not only prioritized conservation, but also emphasized a range of economic, political, and social goals that were shaped by the context in which those stakeholders are embedded. While the biodiversity protection offered is potentially weak, these parks can be considered successful in that they represent legitimate conservation foundations. Strictly biological/ecological measures of success are therefore a necessary but critically insufficient set of indicators, as they can ignore the objectives of powerful actors, as well as aspects of both context and social process that will fundamentally affect the success—by any measure—of protected areas.