Contribution of Marine Spatial Planning in Mexico to Marine and Coastal Management

La planeación espacial marina en México se materializa a través del ordenamiento ecológico, un instrumento de política ambiental transversal y participativo. A través de este instrumento, el gobierno busca fortalecer la coordinación entre autoridades y sociedad para subsanar las consecuencias negativas de la planeación sectorizada en distintas dependencias gubernamentales transitando hacia el manejo integrado de la zona costera y la economía azul. El propósito de este artículo es describir la experiencia de la planeación espacial marina en México, haciendo énfasis en la gobernanza colaborativa. La intención es que esta perspectiva sea de utilidad para otros países con características socioeconómicas, ambientales y/o con gobernanza similares.Marine spatial planning in Mexico is materialized by the ecological ordinance, a cross-sectoral environmental policy instrument. Throughout this instrument, government seeks to strengthen coordination between authorities and society to counter and correct negative consequences of sectoral planning in different government agencies moving forward towards integrated coastal management and the blue economy. The purpose of this article is to describe the experience of marine spatial planning in Mexico, with an emphasis on collaborative governance. The intention is that this perspective may prove its usefulness for other countries with similar socioeconomic, environmental characteristics and/or governance

Opinion: Urban Resilience Efforts Must Consider Social And Political Forces

Environmental disasters, ranging from catastrophic floods to extreme temperatures, have caused more than 30,000 deaths per year and more than US$ 250–300 billion a year in economic losses, globally, between 1995 and 2015. Improved infrastructure and planning for extreme events is essential in urban areas, where an increasingly greater fraction of the world’s inhabitants reside. In response, international governmental and private initiatives have placed the goal of resilience at the center stage of urban planning. [For example, The 100 Resilient Cities Initiative (www.100resilientcities.org/); the Global Covenant of Mayors (https://www.compactofmayors.org/globalcovenantofmayors/); and the recent UN Habitat III (https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda)]. In addition, scientific and policy communities alike now recognize the need for “safe-to-fail” infrastructural design, and the potential role of green and blue infrastructure in mediating hydrological and climatic risks in cities

Utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science

A promising approach for addressing sustainability problems is to recognize the unique conditions of a particular place, such as problem features and solution capabilities, and adopt and adapt solutions developed at other places around the world. Therefore, research and teaching in international networks becomes critical, as it allows for accelerating learning by sharing problem understandings, successful solutions, and important contextual considerations. This article identifies eight distinct types of research and teaching collaborations in international networks that can support such accelerated learning. The four research types are, with increasing intensity of collaboration: (1) solution adoption; (2) solution consultation; (3) joint research on different problems; and (4) joint research on similar problems. The four teaching types are, with increasing intensity of collaboration: (1) adopted course; (2) course with visiting faculty; (3) joint course with traveling faculty; and (4) joint course with traveling students. The typology is illustrated by extending existing research and teaching projects on urban sustainability in the International Network of Programs in Sustainability, with partner universities from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. The article concludes with challenges and strategies for extending individual projects into collaborations in international networks.Postprint (author's final draft

Research Article GIS-based

approach for participatory decision making and land suitability assessmen

Adaptive capacity and social-environmental change: Theoretical and operational modeling of smallholder coffee systems response in Mesoamerican Pacific Rim

Communities who rely directly on the natural environment for their survival typically have developed risk management strategies to enable them to avoid dangerous thresholds of change to their livelihoods. Development policy appropriate for natural resource-based communities requires an understanding of the primary drivers of social-ecological change, the ways in which affected households autonomously respond to such drivers, and the appropriate avenues for intervention to reduce vulnerability. Coffee has been, and still remains, one of the most important commodities of the Mesoamerican region, and hundreds of thousands of smallholder households in the region are dependent in some way on the coffee industry for their livelihood stability. We used the Analytical Network Process to synthesize expert knowledge on the primary drivers of livelihood change in the region as well as the most common household strategies and associated capacities necessary for effective response. The assessment identified both gradual systemic processes as well as specific environmental and market shocks as significant drivers of livelihood change across the region. Agronomic adjustments and new forms of social organization were among the more significant responses of farmers to these changes. The assessment indicates that public interventions in support of adaptation should focus on enhancing farmers’ access to market and technical information and finance, as well as on increasing the viability of farmers’ organizations and cooperatives

A stakeholder driven process to reduce vulnerability to climate change in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

Adaptation, Mexico, Stakeholder participation, Water management,