Stakeholder participation in decision-making processes for marine and coastal protected areas: Case studies of the south-western Gulf of California, Mexico

Marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) are complex social-ecological systems. In recent decades, stakeholder participation has been widely encouraged in MCPA design and management strategy to enable these conservation projects to last over time and produce the expected results. This paper will discuss stakeholder participation in three MCPAs in the south-western Gulf of California in Mexico: Cabo Pulmo National Park, Loreto Bay National Park and Archipelago Espíritu Santo National Park. It will use a qualitative approach (such as semi-structured interviews and observations) to analyze MCPA governance, along with a literature review of specialized and official government documents. Three phases will be studied: MCPA design, MCPA management plan creation and MCPA management board meetings. Results suggest that in the early 2010s, these protected areas were assigned a mixture of governance types: governance by government and shared governance. Certain actions show that park authorities, largely supported by environmental non-governmental organizations, have attempted to improve MCPA decision-making processes through a participative approach, but that there is unequal stakeholder participation in such initiatives.