The environmental organization Greenpeace asked the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) to deny authorization to change the use of forest land for a tourist megaproject by Grupo Xcaret which, it warned, could deforest almost 160 green hectares in Santa Elena, according to “El Financiero”.
This was reported by the non-governmental organization that, on July 19, presented alerts to Semarnat regarding the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) that the group presented on the construction of tourist infrastructure in the Maya jungle.
This work will require up to 22 times the annual volume of water consumed by the entire municipality where the project is intended to be located.
As Greenpeace explained, the tourist megadevelopment includes nine hotels with 18 floors each, which will accommodate a maximum capacity of 16,200 guests; That is, four times the amount of the current population of the town of Santa Elena, close to the archaeological zone of Uxmal.
In addition, he warned that the place where they intend to build is within an area of influence of the so-called Puuc Biocultural State Reserve, where Grupo Xcaret also plans the development of macro lots for more tourist projects and residential spaces, a fact that will further expand negative environmental impacts over the next few years.
Greenpeace explained that species of birds subject to special protection according to NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 were found on the project site: they are the ocellated turkey, the Virginian owl, the white-fronted parrot and the Yucatecan parrot, which would have to move to a different habitat.
For this reason, the NGO urged Semarnat to strengthen and expand the protection polygons of reserves and protected natural areas of the Yucatan Peninsula and cancel projects that threaten the habitat of the region.
TYT Newsroom
