Due to the damages caused by the large hotel chains on the coastal dunes of Cancun, which have generated sand losses of up to 100% and costly recovery projects of more than 1.5 billion pesos (approx.. 83 thousand USD), academics propose to change the tourism model of this destination before the damage is irreversible.

Dr. Gabriela Mendoza González, of the Faculty of Sciences of the UNAM, of the Yucatan Unit, said during her participation in the Coastal Dune Restoration Workshop, that 25% of the beaches of Cancun are at a point of no return, and that another 25% of the coasts in the northern zone of the state are deteriorated.

They seek through the workshop, and from the hand of a group of experts, to make a guide for the restoration of coastal dunes. These guidelines will allow entrepreneurs and civil society to have a reference on what to do when  restoring a coastal dune.

Cecilia Elizondo Vicencio, from the College of the Southern Border (Ecosur), said that one of the proposals they are working on is a permanent monitoring program, which monitors impacts on the coasts after meteorological phenomena, and thus know how and where to restore.

They also plan to develop a nursery for dune plant species.

(Photo: wikimedia commons)

The idea, according to academics, is to avoid committing the same mistakes made in 2010 and 2016, where 950 and 460 million pesos were spent in the recovery of coastal dunes respectively, and even after the investment the problem persisted, and got worse.

Regarding the recommendations, they say that they will work, as long as they are taken into account by the authorities and the hoteliers, because it will not be useful if the sector does not have an ecological conscience.

Of the 80 kilometers of dune that are proposed to recover, which would be in charge of The National Conservancy, together with the Conanp, the area that presents more damage is the one that corresponds to the coast of Cancun (28 km).

Source: palcoquintanarroense.com.mx

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