CEA Symposium

On May 19-21, CEA hosted a Symposium with the theme on “The Riviera Maya: Scientific Research and a Sustainable Ecology.” The Symposium, which celebrated the 10th year of Centro Ecológico Akumal, brought together scientists from disciplines who have worked in Akumal and the surrounding region to present their work and offer their insights concerning the potential impact of current economic development plans for the Riviera Maya.
The future development plans call for quadrupling the number of hotel rooms from the present 22,000 to 80,000 and include housing for 1.5 million new workers in six communities of 250,000 people each, spread along the tourist corridor, including one at Akumal. Sustainable environmental criteria need to be part of these plans, and this symposium presented a rare opportunity for the scientific community to bring its expert knowledge to the attention of decision makers and possibly to influence the outcome of pending decisions with broad environmental consequences.
The overall agenda was:

Tuesday May 18, 2004
OPENING GET TOGETHER AT THE LOL HA BEACH BAR - 5:30 – 6:30 PM

Wednesday May 19, 2004
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS - 9 AM – 1 PM and 2 PM – 6 PM
The MEAT of the Symposium was here. There were 16 or so presentations on the agenda, and most of the presenters were scientists or educators from the likes of University of North Carolina, University of Mississippi, Cornell University, and NOAA.

Thursday May 20, 2004
ROUNDTABLE DECLARATION FOR POET - 9 AM - 1 PM