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Mexico's Tourism Agency Defends Controversial Train Project in Southern Jungles
25.08.2023 - 14:22 / skift.com / Andres Manuel / Lopez Obrador
Parts of Mexico’s remote southern jungles have barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya.
In the eyes of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his government is building — known as the Tren Maya — will bring modern connectivity to areas for generations deprived of significant economic benefits.
But the railway and its hasty construction also critically endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor, droves of scientists and environmental activists say.
The railway “is splitting the jungle in half,” said Ismael Lara, a guide who takes tourists to a cave that shelters millions of bats near the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Lara fears the train, due to pass close by, will disrupt wildlife routes and attract too much development to fragile ecosystems.
Over almost a year, Reuters photographed construction at points along the full length of the planned rail track, documenting the evolution of the flagship project which Lopez Obrador has pledged to finish by the end of 2023.
The 1,470 km (910 miles) of rail are set to carry diesel and electric trains through the Yucatan Peninsula and connect Mexico’s top tourist destination Cancun to the ancient Mayan temples of Chichen Itza and Palenque.
The railway has deeply divided Mexicans and the controversies surrounding the construction exemplify struggles developing countries across the globe face to balance economic progress with environmental responsibility.
Fonatur, Mexico’s tourism agency charged with the project, has said the railway will lift more than a million people out of poverty and could create up to 715,000 new jobs by 2030. Construction costs are seen at up to $20 billion, Lopez Obrador said in July.
But with the project already billions of dollars over budget and behind schedule, scientists and activists say the government cut corners in its environmental risk assessments in a bid to complete it while Lopez Obrador is still in office.
In December, United Nations experts warned the railway’s status as a national security project allowed the government to side-step usual environmental safeguards, and called on the government to protect the environment in line with global standards.
Fonatur defended the speed with which the studies were produced. “Years are not required, expertise, knowledge and integration capacity are required,” it said in response to questions from Reuters. It declined to comment on the U.N. statement.
The Tren Maya route cuts a swathe up to 14 meters (46 ft) wide through some of the world’s most unique ecosystems, bringing the modern world closer to vulnerable species such as jaguars — and bats.
It will pass above a system of thousands of subterranean caves carved out from the region’s
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