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

Abstract

Marine spatial planning instruments often exhibit a gap between regulatory design and on-the-ground effectiveness. This study examines this gap in Mexico’s marine Ecological Territory Management Programs (POETs) within the Mexican Coastal Zone (MCZ) using a novel operational analysis methodology grounded in the logic of necessary determinants 32. We propose an operability conceptualization defined as the latent functionality of a policy instrument, only realized when specific contextual prerequisites are present, shifting analytical focus from policy design to preconditions for effective functioning. Derived from doctoral research reviewing over 300 sources on Mexican ecological planning and coastal management, we identify 47 necessary determinants organized by level of government (municipal, state, federal), validated through a documentary sample of 22 sources. The MCZ encompasses 264 municipalities (154 with coastline and 110 influenced), 24,945 km of coastline (1:50,000 scale), and 10,570 km2 of continental shelf. Marine POETs operate within a complex public management system comprising over 500 legal instruments and approximately 300 public operators safeguarding the environmental rights of 25.6 million coastal inhabitants. Despite this, persistent environmental degradation and unresolved land-use conflicts point to a systemic operability deficit. We provide a transferable analytical framework for diagnosing policy implementation failures in complex coastal governance systems.