Tulum, Quintana Roo — Impunity and a lack of oversight by federal environmental authorities are posing a critical threat to the Sac Actun cave system, one of Mexico’s most important underground water reservoirs and natural heritage sites, according to environmental group Sélvame Mx.
José Urbina Bravo, a professional diver and member of the collective, said current policies prioritize commercial infrastructure over ecological conservation. He warned that legal avenues for citizen defense have been blocked, even as evidence of environmental damage mounts in a region where any surface alteration directly and irreversibly impacts the Yucatán Peninsula’s aquifer.
The most recent conflict involves a road built through the jungle ecosystem over the cave system, allegedly without an environmental impact statement or the required land-use change permit. The Mexican Army (Sedena) began clearing the road in April 2025 as part of complementary projects to the Tren Maya. After citizen alerts, the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) temporarily shut down the work, but construction resumed through opaque mechanisms without effective sanctions.
“They cut down thousands of trees without a permit, without an environmental impact statement, and without a land-use change permit. Profepa closed the site, but nobody paid or repaired the environmental crime committed in a key area for the aquifer,” Urbina Bravo said.
The Sac Actun system spans 368 kilometers of flooded galleries and caves, making it the longest underwater cave system on Earth. It holds invaluable archaeological and paleontological remains from early human presence in the Americas and serves as the hydrological backbone for thousands of the more than 7,000 cenotes recorded in the Yucatán Peninsula.
Environmentalists argue the road serves no real social function for connectivity or mobility for residents of Tulum or Chetumal, and suspect the infrastructure is driven by real estate speculation interests in critical conservation zones.
Sélvame Mx criticized the passive and obstructive role of institutions such as the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) and Profepa, saying they have become bureaucratic barriers that consolidate impunity for environmental crimes in the Mexican Caribbean.
