Environmentalists Denounce Alleged Ecocide Over Royal Caribbean Work in Cozumel

Cozumel, Quintana Roo — Environmentalists in Cozumel have accused Royal Caribbean of damaging a mangrove area while preparing its Royal Beach Club Cozumel project, saying a road and an access gate were built at Playa Mía without federal authorization.

The complaint comes even though the project’s environmental impact statement is still under review at the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (Semarnat), where the file has been granted an extension.

Activists documented the work in photographs showing the newly opened access and Cozumel municipal staff on a motorcycle at the site.

Noemí Martín Cab, who holds a degree in natural resource management and heads the group Conservation, Research and Environmental Management of Cozumel (Cimac), confirmed the finding.

“We sent people to check and nothing could be seen because the vegetation hid it from the street,” she said in an interview. “They brought their people in to work inside the jungle and inside the mangrove, and when they finished they put up their entrance with a wooden gate.”

According to Martín Cab, the General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk has kept the project, filed under number 23QR2025U0054, in “extension of deadline” status since May 12. By law such an extension cannot exceed 60 business days, but everything suggests “the authority froze the clock,” she said.

A legal team advising Cozumel organizations is preparing a complaint with the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) over works carried out ahead of authorization and harm to the coastal wetland.