A recent assessment by the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS) revealed that the Yucatan Peninsula has lost 285,580 hectares of forests from 2019 to 2023. Of these, 5,610 correspond to the mega Maya Train project.
This condition is particularly reflected in sections 5, 6 and 7 in the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche. It is said that, under the technical direction of researcher Edward Ellis, the CCMSS explained that the total figure is equivalent to 71 thousand hectares deforested per year, as well as 196 hectares of forest land destroyed daily.
It also states that the annual loss rate represents 0.4 percent, when the national average is 0.1. In this same vein, the CCMSS explains that of the three entities that make up the Yucatan peninsula, located in the south-east of the country, Campeche is the one that has the greatest damage, with 29 thousand hectares of forest land destroyed annually.
In reference to the above, Yucatan follows with 27 thousand 519, and ends with Quintana Roo, with 14 thousand 595 hectares damaged annually. In detail, Sergio Madrid, executive director of the aforementioned Council, states that the rate of loss is very high with a very accelerated pace of destruction.
In the last four years, in Campeche, 117 thousand 124 hectares of forest land have been destroyed. This represents an annual loss of 29 thousand 281 hectares. In this same sense, the municipalities that presented the highest losses are Holpechén, Carmen, Calakmul and Palizada.
In Quintana Roo, for the same period, 58,319 hectares of forests were destroyed, which represents an annual loss of 14,595 hectares of forest land annually. Among the most damaged municipalities are Othón P. Blanco, Bacalar, Cancún and Felipe Carrillo Puerto, the latter in the Mayan zone.
Yucatán has lost thousands of hectares of forests
In relation to the above, in Yucatán, the impact on the forests has reached the figure of 110,077 hectares destroyed, which means that 27,519 hectares are lost annually. The most deforested municipalities are Tizimin, Panabá, Tekax and Sucilá.
For this study, they say, the Forest Cover Change Information System (Sicamfor) platform was used. This is a new tool, whose diagnosis is supported by Planet NICFI, Collect Earth Online and Google Earth Engine, to perform the analysis, processing and visualization of a significant amount of data.
Significant level of certainty
The researchers explain that SICAMFOR provides a higher level of certainty, between 5 and 8 times more, than platforms such as Global Forest Watch or the Satellite System for Forest Monitoring of the National Forestry Commission.
They defined that, by crossing the regional context, scientific contribution and field work, they have managed to identify “historical drivers” of forest loss, namely: agribusiness, livestock, real estate expansion and tourism.
Weakening of institutions
It is also concluded that deforestation in the region is also a consequence of the significant weakening of environmental institutions in Mexico. “During the construction of mega projects, led by federal authorities, the capacity of institutions to fulfill their responsibilities and guarantee compliance with the law and rights has been limited,” they said.
Meanwhile, for environmental benefit, it was learned that Grupo Xcaret decided to abandon the mega tourism development project, which included the construction of nine hotels in the town of Santa Elena, near the Archaeological Zone installed in Uxmal.
Deforestation of almost 160 hectares was stopped
With the aforementioned project, what could have been the deforestation of almost 160 hectares of jungle in the Mayan area was stopped. For its part, Greenpeace said that the mega development could accommodate up to 16,200 guests.
The Yucatan Peninsula has lost 285,580 hectares of jungle, from 2019 to 2023. Of these, 5,610 correspond to the Mayan Train mega project.
This figure is equivalent to four times the current population of the community of Santa Elena. In this same sense, this project would require up to 22 times more water per year. This figure, they say, is the total amount consumed by the municipality of Yucatán.
Position of the Mexican Center for Environmental Law
The Mexican Center for Environmental Law, A.C., defines that in Mexico, many of the mega projects are planned, approved and located in rural areas where a considerable part of the country’s biocultural heritage is found, places where peasant and indigenous communities live.
They consider that, due to the predominant social and environmental policy, various violations of collective human rights are being generated, since respect for human rights, such as autonomy, territory or traditional access to natural resources, is not guaranteed.
The socio-environmental impacts of a mega project are not evaluated in a comprehensive and effective manner, in addition to the fact that the information on which the State evaluates the impacts is deficient and partial, tolerating fragmentation of habitats – projects, and occasionally, this review is done when the project has already been designed, granted and tendered.
Source: meteored
