Mexico allocates Campeche beaches to mangrove conservation.

The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) allocated 18,334,434.80 m² of maritime beach to the service of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) for the conservation and restoration of the mangrove ecosystem of the Laguna de Términos reserve. The measure, signed by Secretary Alicia Isabel Adriana Bárcena Ibarra, was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) on Friday, August 14, 2026.

The Agreement, issued pursuant to the General Law on National Assets and the Regulation for the Use and Exploitation of the Territorial Sea, Navigable Waterways, Beaches, Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone and Lands Reclaimed from the Sea, comprises eight portions of maritime beach of the general polygon known as the Bahamitas segment, in the localities of Isla del Carmen, La Palma, Quinta Chilla and Puerto Real, municipality of Carmen, Campeche. The surface area is part of the public domain assets of the Federation and is assigned to the agency responsible for administering natural protected areas.

A coastal polygon of more than 20 million square meters

The general polygon Bahamitas covers 20,435,930.65 m², of which 18,334,434.80 m² are allocated; the 116 polygons that make up water bodies within the polygon are excluded from the allocated surface and are described in Annexes 1 and 2 of the Agreement. The surveys are recorded in plans prepared in September 2025 in accordance with NOM-146-SEMARNAT-2017 and are on file in case file 835/CAMP/2022 of the General Directorate of the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone and Coastal Environments.

• Allocated surface area: 18,334,434.80 m², in 8 portions of maritime beach
• Total polygon surface area: 20,435,930.65 m²
• Excluded water bodies: 116 polygons
• Municipality of Carmen; localities of Isla del Carmen, La Palma, Quinta Chilla and Puerto Real
• Agreement signed: Mexico City, June 29, 2026

A key reserve for the Gulf of Mexico mangrove

Article one establishes that the surface area is allocated to activities related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, in particular to the surveillance, monitoring, conservation and restoration of the mangrove ecosystem and its ecosystem services. Actions must comply with the Decree declaring the region known as Laguna de Términos as a natural protected area, with the status of a flora and fauna protection area, published in the DOF on June 6, 1994, and its management program, published on June 4, 1997, which covers the municipalities of Carmen, Palizada and Champotón.

Legal scope and validity

Article Second states that the Agreement only grants CONANP the right to use the surface area, so it does not transfer ownership or create any real right in favor of the recipient. Article Third empowers SEMARNAT to redefine the federal maritime-terrestrial zone at any time, so the coordinates of the vertices, bearings, and distances of the polygons may be modified. The sole transitional article establishes that the Agreement enters into force on the day following its publication, that is, this August 15, 2026.

With this decision, the State shields more than 1,800 hectares of coastal strip from incompatible uses in one of the most significant mangrove areas in the Gulf of Mexico and reinforces CONANP’s surveillance and restoration tasks. For Campeche, the beaches and wetlands of the Bahamitas segment are now oriented toward environmental protection, in line with federal commitments to conserve coastal ecosystems.

Source: Official Gazette of the Federation, No. 221/2026, Friday, August 14, 2026, Executive Branch (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources), pp. 23-26 (official reference: Agreement by which the surface area of 18,334,434.80 m² of the general polygon segment Bahamitas, Isla del Carmen, Campeche is assigned to the service of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas).