Playa del Carmen Residents Urge City to Protect Last Green Lung in Villas del Sol

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Residents of the Villas Las Perlas subdivision, in the Villas del Sol neighborhood, are asking the city government to protect a roughly three-hectare tract of conserved jungle and designate it as Playa del Carmen’s first municipal natural protected area. They describe the land as the last remaining green lung in one of the city’s most rapidly growing areas.

The request comes from neighbors who, since 2018, have carried out monitoring and environmental documentation efforts to prevent the land from being developed. They say the property contains a natural waterhole, or aguada, and is home to plant and animal species protected under Mexico’s official environmental standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010.

Luz Elena Martínez, a Villas Las Perlas resident, said the area is one of the few surviving fragments of jungle in the midst of widespread housing development. “It’s practically a time capsule of what the jungle was like before we came to live here,” she said.

According to Martínez, the land retains native vegetation and hosts species such as the leopard frog, the chit palm and the guano palm, along with other protected plants and animals. Unlike nearby plots that were cleared for housing projects, she said, this space remains largely intact.

“Across from this area there was more jungle, but it was cleared to build the Paseos del Sisal towers and other projects. Every year there are fewer natural spaces left,” she said.

Residents also highlighted the presence of the aguada, which they say holds clean water for most of the year and serves as a refuge for local wildlife. Martínez said neighbors regularly enter the site to monitor the water body and document its biodiversity.

“The water is clean and clear, and that allows species like the leopard frog and other organisms native to this ecosystem to live there,” she explained.

Given these conditions, the residents are asking the municipal government to consider declaring the plot a municipal natural protected area, a designation that would preserve the ecosystem and prevent future land-use changes.

“What we are asking is that this space be protected for future generations. It’s the last green lung left in this part of the city,” Martínez said.

The neighbors argue that conserving the land would not only protect native species but also provide environmental benefits to a densely populated area that has seen a steady decline in green spaces.