Yucatán’s Jungle Loss: 1,700 Hectares Cleared

Yucatán, Mexico — The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has imposed a definitive closure on a motocross track in Chicxulub Pueblo after detecting the removal of low deciduous jungle across 4.27 hectares. This case adds to a series of operations carried out this year, in which the federal agency has documented thousands of hectares altered in Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo.

The closure seals are the visible sign of a deeper problem: the advance of land clearing and changes in land use that are eroding ecosystems and communities. By integrating this data with other operations documented this year in Yucatán—147 hectares in one property in Tekax plus 39.6 hectares in another property, in addition to 606.4 hectares from a regional operation and 968.62 hectares from a report on 17 properties—the accumulated total of devastated areas would reach approximately 1,765.89 hectares in the state. This sum gives a measure of the problem, although Profepa has not released a consolidated, verified total for the year.

The Track That Cut the Jungle's Silence

On October 7, Profepa inspectors visited a property in Chicxulub Pueblo where workers were preparing a closed circuit for motocross, including roads with stony material, leveling, obstacles, and jumps. The visit revealed the removal of natural vegetation—low deciduous jungle—across an approximate surface area of 4.27 hectares.

Unable to present authorization for a change of land use in forested terrain, the officials placed total closure seals and ordered the immediate cessation of the work. Official photographs show banners announcing races and, over them, the seal of the authority: an image that summarizes the clash between recreational activities and the legal protection of the landscape.

That episode, notable for being "definitive" in local media coverage, is just one piece of the puzzle. In recent months, Profepa has intensified operations in the Yucatán Peninsula and has documented illegal land clearing and changes in land use affecting extensive areas of jungle.

Principal Cases and Official Figures

The cases vary in scale and actors—from small properties to large surfaces linked to cultivation or settlements—but share a pattern: the modification of the landscape without environmental permits and, frequently, a response from the authority after the fact.

This is not the first case of devastation this year; Profepa has carried out the following operations in Yucatán:

• Chicxulub Pueblo (motocross track): removal of 4.27 hectares of low deciduous jungle; total closure for operating without authorization.
• Property in Tekax (closure for illegal change of land use): 147 hectares of native vegetation devastated, according to a Profepa communiqué regarding a property in the municipality of Tekax.
• Mennonite property: Profepa reported in another operation at least 39.6 hectares of native vegetation devastated in a closed property.
• Regional operation: in a communiqué from the end of June, Profepa reported having detected and closed illegal clearings totaling 2,608.9 hectares distributed across the Peninsula: Campeche 702 hectares, Yucatán 606.4 hectares, and Quintana Roo 1,300.5 hectares. This figure reflects an operation with scattered findings across the three states.
• Closure of 17 properties: in a subsequent operation, the closure of 17 properties for illegal change of land use was announced, with a total of 3,747.59 hectares affected in the region; the breakdown reported by Profepa assigns Yucatán 968.62 hectares, Quintana Roo 2,531.12 hectares, and Campeche 247.85 hectares.

How Much Does That Add Up to in Yucatán?

If the specific published figures corresponding to Yucatán are added together directly—4.27 hectares (Chicxulub) + 147 hectares (Tekax) + 39.6 hectares (Mennonite property) + 606.4 hectares (part of the June operation) + 968.62 hectares (Yucatán's portion of the 17-property operation)—the arithmetic result is 1,765.89 hectares documented in Profepa's communiqués so far this year.

It is important to emphasize that this sum is a simple aggregation of figures reported in different communiqués, and there is a possibility that some of these numbers refer to properties or findings that overlap with each other. Profepa publishes reports by operation and by property, and when operations overlap in time and territory, an accumulated count can inflate the real figure if duplicates are not removed.

Therefore, the previous figure should be read as a sum of cases reported publicly, not necessarily as the clean and unique quantification of all the damage in the state.

Profepa has reported at different times actions totaling thousands of hectares in the Peninsula. For example, the 2,608.9 hectares mentioned in June and the second report of 3,747.59 hectares from the 17 properties reflect sustained pressure on the region's jungles—with Quintana Roo concentrating the largest portion of the reported damage in some communiqués, and Yucatán and Campeche also showing significant figures.

Impact and Human Perspective

The figures imply more than hectares: they mean fragmented corridors, loss of habitat for local species, risk to ecosystem services (water retention, fertile soil, carbon sinks), and tensions with rural communities that see their lands transformed.

In Chicxulub Pueblo, for example, the conversion of 4.27 hectares for an intensive recreational use—a motocross track—is a reminder that it is not always about monocultures or large clearings, but that there are also local actions that produce visible and rapid damage.

Profepa's response—inspections, closure seals, securing of installations—shows the operational capacity of the agency, but at the same time raises questions: why were earth movements authorized or permitted without municipal controls? What follow-up will there be on fines or the restoration of the land?

In several communiqués, Profepa affirms its commitment to monitor and sanction, but the closure seals are only the first link in a process that must include effective sanctions and, when possible, ecological restoration measures.

So far this year—according to Profepa's public communiqués and operations—the Yucatán Peninsula has been the scene of several cases of illegal land use change and clearings that, added together, represent thousands of hectares affected. In Yucatán in particular, the official figures that have been published in different operations reach, in a simple aggregation of the cited cases, approximately 1,765.89 hectares (including the 4.27-hectare motocross track in Chicxulub). This figure gives a dimension of the problem: the loss of landscape is occurring on multiple fronts, from large agricultural properties to leisure projects that are installed without permits.