Lyn Ohala Santos Rodríguez, Mexico

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Lyn Ohala Santos Rodríguez

2019 Status: LINKEDIN Lyn Santos Rodríguez, Corporate Sustainability Sr Mgr at Karisma Hotels & Resorts at Karisma Hotels & Resorts

TEDx Cancun 2018 Production and logistics manager. Probono Project 2017-2018

Independent professional 2015-2017

Friends of Sian Kaan 2011 - 2015

2018 Interview about her current work "In 2013, Karisma created the Passion for Sustainability Program, which includes initiatives promoting conscious tourism, preserving ecosystems, protecting wild and endangered species, and responsibly using natural resources.

The Passion for Sustainability Program includes several noteworthy initiatives, most remarkably the creation of the world’s largest artificial reef, Kan-Kanán, in Riviera Maya, Mexico, which was commissioned by the owners of Karisma’s El Dorado Spa Resorts. Stretching longer than the Brooklyn Bridge, Kan-Kanán – meaning guardian of the sea in Mayan – covers more than a mile of coastline parallel to the coast of Punta Brava in Mexico. It was built by a team of expert engineers, environmentalists, architects and specialized divers at a cost of $1 million as a monumental solution to the deterioration of existing marine systems. It is now the new home to thousands of sea species and is protecting the coast from natural erosion.

Karisma is also home to the Turtle Conservation Program. Aiming to protect four specific species of sea turtles that inhabit Karisma’s beaches in the Mexican Riviera region, the program builds registered turtle camps at El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Seaside Suites - the two hotels with the highest incidence of nesting females. In 2017 alone, these camps successfully released 34,175 Blanca and Caguama sea turtle hatchlings."

2015 Scgis Profile: *-Organization name: Amigos de Sian Ka’an A.C.
title: Marine Conservation and Climate Change Program, Subdirector.
email address: lsantos at amigosdesiankaan.org
interest keywords: coral reefs, climate change, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, REDD+, mangroves, fisheries, conservation, sustainable development, certification, Corporate Social Responsibility
Organization name: Amigos de Sian Ka’an A.C.
Organization full street address (in your local format): Calle Fuego No. 2, Manzana 10, Supermanzana 4, Cancún, Quintana Roo, México. CP. 77500
Organization full mailing address, if different:
Country: México
Work phone with country and area code: +52 (998) 8922958
Work fax with country and area code:
Main email: amigos@amigosdesiankaan.org
Organization Web site URL if any: www.amigosdesiankaan.org
Organization subject keywords: Conservation, environment, biodiversity, caves karst, climate change, sustainable tourism, coast conservation, hydrology, mangroves, sustainable development, sustainable construction, coral reefs, wetlands, community involvement, local culture preservation, fisheries, economic development, local communities, Territory Ecological Ordenance, ecotourism, Sian Ka’an, Quintana Roo, Yucatan Peninsula

Community and Training Work: As you may remember, as part of my responsibilities as Marine Conservation and Climate Change Sub director at Amigos de Sian Ka’an, I had several projects. One of them, the one I presented at the ESRI UC and SCGIS involved the identification of areas suitable for the establishment of no-fishing areas. Using the environmental analysis skills, I gathered together information about biological and socio-economical characteristics on the State and “cleaned” the duplicated data, I homogenized the metadata and organized the information. One of the participants of the project gathered together the legal information regarding the coastal zone (no-take periods and areas, fishing permits, natural protected areas, etc.) and I integrated those information with the one I previously organized. Once all the data were ready to be analyzed, one of the GIS colleagues inside Amigos de Sian Ka’an, with my support, developed a model to predict the best areas for the establishment of no-fishing areas. The model was built in model-builder and has been run with different ponderation values, in order to evaluate the difference in the results if you consider the biological or socioeconomic or legal area more important than the others. The results have been presented to the Alianza Kanan Kay, an initiative where more than 40 organizations work together in order to protect the marine areas of Quintana Roo and to establish no-fishing zones. The project also was accepted to be presented in the American Fishing Meeting, held in Mazatlan, México in April 2014 and will be presented in the 8th Coral Reef International Congress, which will be held in Puerto Vallarta, México, in May, 2015. Apart from this project, I developed a simple interactive map for the Kanan Kay Alliance, where all the members can see the areas where their projects have impacts and where we need to focus our efforts, in order to work all along the State. Other small works on GIS where used as well in my other projects, and I am still practicing the skills I learnt.
On the training area, I organized a course with John Schaeffer on December 2013, a one-week course where I was supposed to start the TTT program, but unfortunately, due to really difficult family situations, I had to interrupt the training and I couldn’t finish it. I know for sure, that most of the students that took that training will be interested in the more-extensive two-week training, and this will be my first focus when I come back from Davis being a certified instructor. Other than this group, I have a good relationship with people from universities at Mérida, Cancún and Chetumal, so I can offer the training for students at these universities, as well as some research centers and NGO’s. I am also willing to travel to other areas of Mexico to offer the training, taking advantage of the colleagues I know from other cities. As per the number of trainings, I commit to organize at least one course in 2015 and two trainings on 2016.
On the professional area, I’ve finished my projects with Amigos de Sian Ka’an last month, and I will continue working as a consultant with them and other NGO’s, as being required. In this specific moment, I am in charge of the Fundraise area for an Education-focus NGO and after spring break I will be developing new projects to be offered to organizations in the area. This situation implies that currently, I don’t have specific data to work with; however, I make the commitment to you that I will have a project to work with when needed.

describe the work that your current organization does: Amigos de Sian Ka´an is a non-profit organization that was founded in June of 1986 with the primary purpose of promoting, leading and supporting actions to preserve the natural and cultural resources of Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve and the surround areas, by working with local communities and the government. Now, Amigos de Sian Ka’an has extended its work to all the Quintana Roo Estate and has become the leading conservation organization in the area.

2013 Scgis Profile

describe your personal role in the organization: I work at Amigos de Sian Ka’an since the beginning of 2012. I am the leader of the Marine Conservation and Climate Change Program at Amigos de Sian Ka’an. My responsibilities include coordinating specific projects related with marine resources and coastal management, and projects with a climate change focus. My Program has three main divisions: Research, Management and Monitoring.

The active projects I am currently executing during 2013 are:

A WWF-Fundacion Carlos Slim funded project that will produce the Greenhouse Gases Inventory for Tourism Industry at Quintana Roo,then main touristic destination in México. Along with the inventory, Mitigation and Adaptation strategies were proposed to Local Government, so they can apply them as part of their strategic plan for next years. This project includes the design of an underground water function model from karstic system that will include all available information in different layers so we can identify, with the support of experts, specific areas that if protected, will ensure the freshwater supply for the years to come. The main results will be the establishment of mitigation and adaptation to climate change measures on tourism sector and the GIS including all the available information on freshwater to identify the best areas to be declared as natural reserves.
A The Nature Conservancy funded project that will continue with the proposal of “no fishing” zones for fisheries conservation. This project is executed in coordination of the Kanan Kay Alliance, a multisectorial initiative that promotes the designation of “No Fishing” zones, so the fish population can recover and replenish fishing areas. The first generation of No Fishing zones is already established in a GIS, and this project will analyze all the biological, ecological and socioeconomic data regarding the area to complement the already included information and create a GIS that will allow us determine the best areas for the second generation on No Fishing zones. The goal is to protect 20% of the territorial sea at Quintana Roo by 2020.
An Ocean Fund funded project that includes the installation of temperature sensors along the coast of Quintana Roo so in-situ measurements can be compared with satellite ones (information generated by the CONABIO, “Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad de México”). These results will be correlated with weather information and coral reef ecological condition, in order to know in advance if a coral bleaching is expected at certain temperatures.
A FMCN (Mexican Fund for Nature Conservation) for evaluating the population status of fish species used on sport fishing inside Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, one of the best places on the world for fly-fishing.
Along with the Neuchatel University, we will trace some of the underground rivers on the Estate, and will measure water quality on springs at the sea.
Amigos de Sian Ka’an has proposed a marine ORDENAMIENTO for the Playa del Carmen’s shore on 2011 and the local government has established it, and during 2013 we will follow up its application with users.
Amigos de Sian Ka’an has the longest record on coral reef health monitoring in the Estate, the coral reef monitoring will continue during this year and a great database that includes all the information gathered will be included in a database that will be published at CONABIO webpage.
I represent Amigos de Sian Ka’an on the Local Technical Commission for REDD+ and the Low Carbon Tourism Initiative.

We also have some projects that haven’t been authorized yet and some others we are working on to apply for funding. Additionally, I collaborate with different Programs at Amigos de Sian Ka’an, like the Freshwater conservation Program, the Ecotourism Program and the Special Projects Program.

describe the history of your personal work in conservation and GIS: My history working on GIS is brief; I used to make maps of the main areas of a hotel destination to monitor the extension of mangrove that had to be protected during the construction process. I used visible and infrared aerial pictures to digitalize the polygons in order to verify the health and extension of the ecosystem. I also made maps to establish monitoring zones on Coral Reefs.

describe what is the most unique and the most challenging about the conservation/GIS work that you do:
In Quintana Roo we have so much natural resources, it has white-sand-turquoise-sea beaches, tropical jungle, mangroves, the Mayan culture and so many wonders, that’s why this area has become the one with higher population growth rate in all the country. The population only in Cancun (north area of the Estate) has passed from 4000 to 850,000 on 40 years. Right now it’s the most important tourist destination with a contribution of 80% of the Estate‘s economy. This has added important and significant pressure to the coastal ecosystems. A study that Amigos de Sian Ka’an performed in alliance with local partners showed that 50% of the original mangrove surface has been lost and the 50% that remains is highly fragmented and isolated. Also, only about 30% of the sewage on the Estate is treated and the rest goes to the underground system.
The Yucatan Peninsula is a karstic platform with no superficial watersheds. The highly porous rock allows filtration and thus, pollution of the underground freshwater that is actually, the only source of drinking water in the area. After the Amazon jungle, Quintana Roo has the largest best preserved tropical jungle and unfortunately, more jungle areas are being deforested, fragmented and changed so proper territory ecological ordenance programs are imperative.
Quintana Roo shore is part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest coral reef after the Great Barrier at Australia. Corals in the area had been impacted by pollution, exploitation, overfishing, mangrove deforestation and non-responsible tourism. The ecological condition of reef, according to the 2012 Report published by Healthy Reef for Healthy People (with some data produced by Amigos de Sian Ka’an), shows that none of the coral reef in Mexico is in a good ecological condition, all of them have some level of impact and more of 50% of them severely damaged.

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