The Operational Conditions of Marine Ecological Territory Management Instruments in the Mexican Coastal Zone

Reality often challenges the effectiveness of environmental policy and its instruments, as is evident for Marine Ecological Territory Instruments in the Mexican Coastal Zone (MCZ), known as Ecological Territory Management Programs (POET, from the Spanish acronym). The primary function of POETs is to guide the allocation of coastal uses within the ecosystem boundaries of 265 municipalities, encompassing 24,945 km of coastline and 10,570 km2 of the continental shelf. The POETs operate through a public management system involving over 500 legal instruments and at least 300 personnel, comprising both municipal and state officials. Its goal is to protect the rights of more than 25 million inhabitants to enjoy a healthy environment and equitable access to resources. However, this remains a challenging and often unresolved task partially explained by various adverse and complex operational conditions that include the diverse population distributions among coastal municipalities, which average 96528.8 ± 203842.5; inaccuracies in coastline measurements, and the absence of a unified system for monitoring, collecting, and disseminating coastal data. Considering operability as an important POETs characteristic that enable them to activate other functions, we identify 47 essential conditions for effectively operating marine POETs within the Mexican Coastal Zone management public system.