Playa del Carmen Activists Blast Urban Sprawl in the Jungle

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Environmental advocates and a local engineer are pressing Playa del Carmen to overhaul its urban development model, warning that unchecked real estate growth is stripping the jungle, harming wildlife and eroding residents’ quality of life.

Engineer Alfredo Nava said the city must change course before approving any more construction permits, arguing that officials should first review and analyze the impact of every proposed project.

“Playa del Carmen must change its urban development model. Before construction permits are authorized, the impact of each development should be reviewed and analyzed, because quality of life is being degraded by clearing the entire jungle and then justifying it with ornamental plants,” Nava said.

Activist Liliana Flores described the pace of real estate development as highly aggressive and said authorities are failing to monitor whether projects comply with environmental regulations.

Activist Luis Aguilera said growth itself cannot be halted because demand for housing keeps the city expanding, but he criticized how that growth is being carried out.

“Urban development cannot be stopped because Playa del Carmen keeps growing due to the demand for homes. The problem is the way it is developing — they are flattening all the vegetation, and developers are not leaving green percentages for wildlife,” Aguilera said.

Nava pointed to the wider Riviera Maya, saying investors show little interest in protecting vegetation and instead exploit every square meter of land to build in order to recoup their money quickly.

“What is happening in the Riviera Maya is regrettable. It is clear the investor has no interest in protecting the vegetation; they are taking advantage of every meter of land to build because they want to recover their money fast. On one hand they are killing flora and fauna and exposing the safety of the population,” he said.

The advocates also took aim at the government’s framing of real estate investment as progress and as a way to meet housing demand, calling it a slogan used to tear apart vegetation in exchange for enormous slabs of concrete.

“Once the project is finished, they wash their hands by planting ornamental plants, justifying the damage and arguing that they are protecting nature,” Nava added.

Flores said environmental law is not being enforced and called for a new approach that allows only sustainable projects rather than aggressive ones, blaming officials for a lack of values and environmental awareness.

“Wiping out vegetation has a price and it is paid very dearly, because it destroys ecosystems, accelerates climate change and causes serious damage to soil and water. The loss of biodiversity is also critical, because it destroys the home of thousands of animals and plants, which causes species to go extinct,” she said.

Aguilera stressed that critics are not opposed to development itself, only to the failure to follow environmental rules. He said the new Urban Development Program (PDU) should be presented publicly before it is authorized so that flaws can be corrected.

“No one is against real estate development. The problem is that environmental law is not being complied with. We have insisted that the urban development model must be changed — otherwise we will be left without vegetation in the short term. Before they authorize the new Urban Development Program (PDU), which we know nothing about, it needs to be presented so errors can be corrected,” he said.