Structural analysis of cross-impact matrices in the Mizata Natural Area, La Libertad, as a socio-environmental evaluation model

Abstract

The study was carried out in the Mizata Natural Area (NA), which is part of the Cordillera del Bálsamo Conservation Area, located in the municipality of Teotepeque, department of La Libertad, with geographic coordinates: 13o31’0.455’’ NL and 89o 35’58.824’’ LW. Based on the analysis of the information collected in the field and the pertinent secondary information, a structural analysis “Matrixes of Crossed Impacts Applied Multiplication for a Classification (MICMAC)” was used. The variables were mapped, the determinants or from the outset, the key variables or system challenge, the objective variables, the autonomous variables and the regulation variables were identified. Through the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, as a situational study methodology, a total of thirty situational states were generated, which are distributed in ten registered strengths, seven opportunities, five weaknesses and eight threats that were identified for the Mizata NA, focused mainly on the proper management and use of natural resources. For each of these situational states, they were placed in their fields and socioeconomic and environmental variables with their respective trends. The most sensitive variables to regulate and that generate environmental impacts in the Mizata Natural Area include the inappropriate use of fishing gear, both artisanal and industrial, tourism development projects without environmental permits, settlements on the coastline, waste management solids and direct discharges of gray and black water to bodies of water, among others.