Tren Maya Clears 261 Hectares of Cancún Jungle

Cancún — The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has authorized the clearing of 261 hectares of jungle in Cancún for the construction of the largest multimodal terminal for the Tren Maya cargo line. The authorization was granted following the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA), despite objections from environmentalists.

The authorization, however, acknowledges the potential to affect at least 12 species present in the area and also has implications for the exploitation of the aquifer. The newspaper El Financiero reviewed the MIA authorization, which revealed that the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) made suggestions to consider actions that would not affect pollinators and fauna in the zone.

"Considering that the project is linked to line 4 of the Tren Maya in operational activities related to the transport of personnel, raw materials, merchandise, and products, as well as aiding tourist development in the area, we suggest estimating environmental quality through different indicators that reflect the impact with or without the project, the numbers of protected species in relation to conditions before and after the project's intervention," states the resolution.

Despite the environmental authorization not being approved until July of this year, the federal government had already announced the start of construction of the largest multimodal terminal, which is set to be one of the most important for merchandise transport in the southeast.

"Cancún: it is the largest terminal in the system and will have a storage and distribution terminal for fuels to supply the Cancún International Airport via a turbopipeline. It is already under construction," indicates the governmental site 'Proyectos México'.

Regarding this, the environmental organization GreenPeace stated that the Tren Maya is not only a tourist project but a megaproject of infrastructure in the southeast that will lead to large-scale environmental devastation.

"This phase threatens to consolidate an extractivist model that puts the biodiversity, indigenous territories, and ecological balance of the entire region at grave risk. Now we are seeing it clearly: the cargo phase begins, designed to facilitate the massive transport of merchandise and natural resources," the organization denounced.

It is worth recalling that the construction of the Tren Maya cargo branch will increase the environmental damages generated during the construction of the passenger railroad's tracks, stations, and other works. It will also lead to the deforestation of at least 360 additional hectares of jungle to build two intermodal terminals: one in Cancún, Quintana Roo, and another in Progreso, Yucatán.