Cabo Pulmo Coral Reef in Danger

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The Cabo Pulmo coral reef is an ecological treasure. Nestled at the southern tip of Baja California Sur, the 20,000-year-old reef is one of just three of its kind on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Many of the 800 species of marine animals in the Sea of Cortez seek refuge in the reef, and studies have shown that it plays a critical role in the greater ecology of the region.

But if the Mexican government has its way, the Cabo Pulmo reef could be pushed to the brink of destruction by a series of large-scale tourism projects. Developers are planning to construct three massive resorts called Cabo Riviera, Cabo Cortes, and El Anhelo near the reef. The proposed projects - which would create 10,000 hotel rooms, three marinas, and at least three golf courses - would overwhelm the sparsely populated area with an influx of tourists and pollute the environment. A large population of permanent service workers would be required to operate the new facilities, making it necessary to build even more housing and infrastructure in the sensitive ecological zone near Cabo Pulmo.

These developments would directly damage the precious reef, harm the rich biodiversity in the region, and jeopardize the critical ecosystem services that Cabo Pulmo supplies to nearby communities. During construction, increased sedimentation along the coast could cause the coral to bleach and die. Once the resorts are built, sewage runoff would likely result in abnormal algae growth, which would block off sunlight and choke the reef by shutting down photosynthesis. In healthy ecosystems, fish buffer these types of fluctuations by eating the excess algae. But the resorts would likely dismantle this control mechanism as well - higher levels of sport fishing and a soaring demand for seafood would significantly deplete the local fish population and strip the reef of it's natural ability to adapt.

Meanwhile, the new marinas would bring increased boat traffic and sport diving to the coastal waters, which would cause added physical stress to the reef and exacerbate the problem of illegal specimen collection. Finally, the fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides used to maintain the golf courses could contaminate the waterways and further disrupt the delicate ecology.

The timing couldn't be worse. Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing ocean waters to become more acidic, interfering with the calcium formation process that builds and maintains reefs like Cabo Pulmo. As ocean acidification slows coral formation, it becomes critical to shield reefs from the types of preventable and unnecessary stressors that would be introduced by these resorts.

This isn't the first time Cabo Pulmo has faced a severe threat. The reef almost collapsed in the 1980s due to over-fishing, but the Mexican government intervened in 1995 and declared the reef a national park. Since then, the reef has grown and the surrounding ecosystem has thrived. Unfortunately, Mexico's environmental laws - and the authorities responsible for enforcing them - may be too weak to protect the reef this time. When a hastily prepared, inadequate environmental impact assessment (EIA) was first presented in 2007, a coalition of organizations led by the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) and Defensa Ambiental del Noroeste (DAN) filed suit to force the government to protect the reef. The suit led to a review of the EIA, but the authorities moved forward nonetheless and issued environmental licenses for Cabo Riviera and Cabo Cortes.

Recognizing the opportunity to strengthen the opposition by incorporating international legal strategies, AIDA has partnered with local organizations in Baja California Sur to fight the resorts. In February of 2011, AIDA helped file a petition before the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention (SRC) - an international conservation treaty - asking the Secretariat to help conduct an independent assessment of the proposed projects and recommend specific measures to protect Cabo Pulmo. In the coming months, AIDA will evaluate other international strategies and continue to pressure the SRC to intervene on behalf of the reef and the communities that depend on it.