González-Vázquez, J.A.; Silva, R.; Mendoza, E., and Delgadillo-Calzadilla, M.A., 2014. Towards coastal management of a degraded system: Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, Mexico.

The area known as Barra de Navidad is a barrier lagoon system on the Mexican Pacific. Over the last 40 years the system has undergone serious negative changes in its dynamic processes, mainly due to the anthropogenic activities that have taken place there. The main elements that have damaged the equilibrium of the system are the removal of the distal tip of a sandspit, the dredging of a navigation channel, the construction of a breakwater, the cutting down of large areas of mangrove and the construction of tourist infrastructure on the coastal dunes. These changes have decreased the resilience of the system, thereby increasing its vulnerability. In addition, the lagoon has developed a severe problem of silting and alterations to the hydrodynamic patterns in the system have caused a dramatic retreat of the coastline. The degradation of the system has affected the population and their economic activities to such a degree that a series of hydrodynamic analyses have been carried out to propose a short-term, urgent solution which will be part of a long-term plan that will bring self-sustainable balance to the system.