Cancun, QR. Organizations opposed to Section 5 south of the Mayan Train What SOS Cenotes, The Jungle Saves, Mayan Jungle SOS Y save me from the train issued a statement in which they ask not to carry out the informative meeting convened for this Tuesday, June 6, by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) as part of the project’s public consultation process.
They argue that the site chosen for this stage of the consultation, the Jacinto Pat ejido, is not safe or neutral for the parties that oppose the construction of the railway, for which they demand that the date and time of the meeting be modified.
In the letter sent to the government of Mexico, they assure that the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) of Section 5 south was presented “two months after the destruction of the forest”, therefore, it does not comply with the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection.
“In addition, this MIA confirms the infeasibility of continuing to build in Section 5 south due to the type of karstic soil and the danger of a train passing through there,” the letter reads.
Added to this is “a significant impact on the flora and fauna of the Mayan jungle and contamination of underground rivers and cenotes, the only source of water consumption for the flora, fauna and inhabitants of the peninsula,” they add in the report. pronouncement.
They assert that the entire consultation process for Section 5 South “is in violation of the Escazú Agreement, of which Mexico is a party and which establishes access to environmental information and citizen participation in environmental decision-making and access to to environmental justice”, which is not being fully complied with, since the executive project for this section is not even known.
They ask for respect for the definitive suspension of Section 5 south of the mayan train granted by a court when considering the legitimate interest of the divers who filed the amparo to defend the ecosystems, and they argue that the provisional authorization presented by the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur) to start works does not comply with the environmental impact assessment procedure, which is mandatory before any vegetation clearing. “There is a danger that the works with irreversible damage continue to be carried out,” they say.
It will not be possible to reactivate the works in Section 5 south since the law of Sustainable Forest Development establishes that land use change authorizations cannot be granted on forest land where the loss of forest cover was caused by fire, logging or illegal clearing without 20 years having passed, they say in the letter.
Finally, they point out that in addition to the environmental issue, there are others that are of concern, such as the lack of the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments and Zones, by putting at risk the provisions on the protection, preservation and research applicable to the fossil remains of paleontological interest, as well as the traces of human existence together with their archaeological and natural context, which have been partially or totally underwater, periodically or continuously.