Integrated management in coastal lagoons of highly complexity environments: Resilience comparative analysis for three case-studies

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Enclosed coastal seas are usually high environmental value territories that are located, in many cases, in developed countries often subjected to a large catalog of anthropic activities such as tourism, agriculture or industry. These more difficult to manage cases are precisely those that require more complex mechanisms to both diagnose their needs as well as to implement measures that allow the cohabitation between existing activities and the preservation of the natural values of these territories. This article analyzes the link between the lagoon and such activities from a multidisciplinary approach. This new perspective is raised toward implementing integrated analysis methodologies using indicators that determine global diagnostics capable of being compared from one lagoon to another in different parts of the world. To this end, a comparative study has been developed of three highly complex cases located in three different continents: the Salton Sea in America, the Mar Menor in Europe and the Mar Chica in Africa. Through the implementation of GIS-LiDAR analysis tools, an integrated assessment of the situation and the challenges facing these three lagoons will be set out in order to help solve their current issues. The results will enable to highlight the ability of the lagoons to absorb the impacts of the activities that surround them and guide us to where their future management should be routed.