Canul, R.; Mendoza, E., and Silva, R., 2019. Beach erosion diagnosis and green intervention alternatives in Chenkán beach, Campeche, Mexico. In: Silva, R.; Martínez, M.L.; Chávez, V., and Lithgow, D. (eds.), Integrating Biophysical Components in Coastal Engineering Practices. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 92, pp. 75–84. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

The development of infrastructure in coastal zones is rapidly degrading coastal environments and has increased vulnerability to meteorological phenomena. In this paper, Chenkán beach (Southeastern Mexico) is used as a case study to show how anthropogenic changes have brought abrupt damage in this RAMSAR site. The construction of a federal highway and of badly planned coastal protection structures have unbalanced natural sedimentary cycles resulting in chronic erosion and a reduction in the number of sea turtles nesting here. This paper shows the characterization of the erosion process at Chenkán, estimating coastline evolution from satellite images. The annual average rate of erosion found is of -3.70 m, while the net shore transport annual average rate found is of -10.55 m. Finally, three intervention alternatives are proposed and tested numerically: (a) “do nothing”, (b) removal of structures and (c) beach nourishment. It was found that a soft intervention combined with de-engineering would be the best option to recover the beach stability and strengthen the ecosystem connectivity and services.