Tren Maya
History
Designed in service of the tourism industry, the Tren Maya is an intercity railway line stretching 950 miles around the Yucatan Peninsula, in a rough loop around the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo, connecting beach resorts with ancient Mayan sites. In total, the project entails the development of seven different tracks and 21 stations, and has been hailed by the government as an economic “detonator” for Mexico’s southeast, a historically poor and marginalized region.[1]
Environmental Impact
Intensive land development in the "Riviera Maya" region of the Yucatan Peninsula has led to increased contamination of groundwater systems that eventually discharge into Caribbean coastal ecosystems. The increased land development is largely attributed to the tourist industry.[3] The train project will increase the chances of water contamination adding to already increased levels of pollutants. Over the past two decades fresh water sources have decreased by 59 percent.[4]
Among the environmental impacts that the Mayan Train could cause include deforestation, noise pollution and the affectation of water reserves. The construction of the Mayan Train could result in the felling of 2.500 hectares of humid and dry forests, representing approximately 8 million 736 thousand trees. Mexico occupies one of the first places in deforestation worldwide, noise pollution can have an impact on ecosystems and the fauna that inhabits them, affecting the ability of animals to listen to their predators and causing interference in their mating. The Yucatan Peninsula region is an important water reserve, especially of underground origin, which increases concern.[5]
Many environmental groups say that the Obrador administration has rushed through environmental impact assessment studies:
"Inadequate soil and geophysical studies fail to consider the fragility of the Yucatan Peninsula's karst and soil, resulting in elevated risks of infrastructure sinking and fuel transportation accidents," said the statement by the groups. They made the submission under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).
On Tuesday, Lopez Obrador said the project had been deemed a matter of national security, which could allow development to proceed despite a series of legal injunctions stalling construction.[6]
Tram Five
The construction of the train threatens the longest known underground river[8] in the world, flowing through the Sac Aktun cave system, by potentially causing cave collapses and contamination from steel piles and diesel.[9] Furthermore, deforestation has been happening in this section of construction to clear land for the railway.[10] The Mexican government has admitted that 300,000 trees have been cut down in section five alone.[11]
And that’s a fraction of the likely real damage; observers estimate that the real number is 9 million. “Of course, it depends on your definition of tree,” says Rodrigo Medellín, a researcher at the Institute of Ecology at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “The soil there is nutrient-poor, plus they’re smack bang in the middle of hurricane territory, so they don’t grow as high or as wide as in other areas, but at 10-15 meters they’re already significantly higher than the botanical definition. Perhaps you’d get to 300,000 if you only count trees measuring at least 25 meters in height. But it’s categorically false.”[12]
The cave systems house the largest aquifer in the world flowing under the Yucatan Peninsula and is a water source for about 5 million people.[13]
Beyond the environmental impacts the construction of the train system in this area will likely cause destruction to ancient Mayan archeological sites.
Tram Six
Maya Forests
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
Indigenous Communities
López Obrador
Obrador is Mexico's current president and was anticipated to be one of the country's most left-wing administrations and part of this was his commitment to environmental causes. In an interview[14] Obrador promised "not a single tree" would be cut down in the name of the Tren Maya project.[15] To date the government has admitted to felling 300,000 tress for the construction of the train in section 5 alone. Experts say that the true number is closer to 9 million trees.[16]
Military Collaboration
In April of 2023 Mexico's Chamber of Deputies passed legislation giving control over the construction of the Tren Maya to the Defense Ministry (Sedena.)[17]
Deputy Julieta Mejía, of the Citizens Movement (MC) party, opposed the reforms because it gives the military further control over public works projects.
“We cannot turn Sedena into the builder of Mexico,” she said. “They are going to give the armed forces total and indefinite control of the infrastructure projects in our country.”
Under President López Obrador, the military’s participation in public works and infrastructure projects has broadened. On Friday, the Lower House approved a reform to the Civil Aviation and Airport laws that allows the formation of a state-owned airline operated by Sedena. This followed another reform passed in February giving the military control over Mexican airspace.
Sedena will also oversee the construction of six hotels near the Maya Train route through the state-owned company Olmeca-Maya-México.[18]
Resistance to Construction
Sources
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ Chris D. Metcalfe, Patricia A. Beddows, Gerardo Gold Bouchot, Tracy L. Metcalfe, Hongxia Li, Hanneke Van Lavieren, Contaminants in the coastal karst aquifer system along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Environmental Pollution, Volume 159, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 991-997, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2010.11.031.
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://latinamericanpost.com/43441-mayan-train-overshadowed-by-environmental-damage-and-impact-on-communities
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/activists-say-mexico-not-enforcing-environmental-laws-related-mayan-train-2022-07-21/
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mexico-environment-train/
- ↑ https://www.uw360.asia/the-destruction-of-sac-aktun-underwater-cave-by-the-tren-maya-project/
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://fermoctezuma.news/2022/05/03/talaran-300-mil-arboles-para-construccion-del-tren-maya/
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://time.com/6245748/maya-train-tulum-yucatan-indigenous-people-land/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gLNPhCKIWg
- ↑ https://politica.expansion.mx/mexico/2022/04/21/amlo-aseguro-no-tirar-ningun-arbol-para-el-tren-maya
- ↑ https://www.heraldo.mx/protestan-y-evidencian-devastacion-por-tren-maya/
- ↑ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/deputies-approve-defense-ministry-control-of-the-maya-train/
- ↑ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/deputies-approve-defense-ministry-control-of-the-maya-train/