The Jaguar Wildlife Center organization denounced that section 5 North and South of the Maya Train will have various negative environmental impacts, so it gathers signatures to stop it.
(YUCATAN – PRONATURA).- The biggest concern for the environment, flora and biodiversity of the Yucatan Peninsula are the development poles that will be built as part of the Maya Train, acknowledged Anuar Hernández Saint Martín, head of the Feline and its Prey Conservation Program in Pronatura Yucatan Peninsula.
They could generate “large-scale environmental deterioration processes”; environmental and social impacts, from change in land use, depredation of green areas, affectation of local fauna, increased mobility, among others.
According to the NGO, the project will fragment the territory, “favoring the reduction of forest cover, the isolation of populations of flora and fauna, the interruption of biological corridors, the change of microclimates and the transformation of habitat.”
According to the Maya Train portal , a Development Pole is the territory of the direct area of influence of the stations, where urban planning will be promoted, “well managed” as a sub-center or center of urban life with quality, which contributes to reduce the regional and local backwardness, with mixed land uses with public spaces, green areas, sustainable mobility, equipment, services and infrastructure, taking advantage of urbanization as a driving force for sustained economic, social and inclusive development of environmental protection, aquifer, the tangible and intangible heritage of the Maya culture, which also allows connectivity and articulation as a new Rural Urban System of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Hernández Saint indicated that specifically Pronatura has analyzed the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) of the first section of the project, from Palenque to Izamal, and it is difficult to comment on scenarios that do not yet technically exist. Until then, they do not have information on the other sections, so it is difficult to assess the impact, he said.
However, one of the concerns that Pronatura has goes beyond the problem that this work could have in some species, but rather the social and biological phenomena that are going to be detonated from the poles or centers of development, sites where the construction of new population centers is estimated.
This, according to the biologist, changes in land use, also increased mobility of the population, traffic on roads, increased use of natural resources, such as water, cultivation areas that can “cause processes of environmental deterioration through large scale”, due to the magnitude of the project.
According to the doctor of science, depending on the place where these centers are built, the problem will be particular, just to measure the problem, he explained that Calakmul, Campeche, is an area that has had water supply problems, since there are no permanent surface water bodies, which can provide the drinking water service for the population.
So, if a pole is built, the problem could be aggravated, which would be complicated by the arrival of tourists, “it is likely that there will not be enough water resources to support a large number of people.”
In addition to this, he added, the fauna also suffers from this lack of liquid, which can eventually cause the death of several specimens. All these possible impacts, he warned, are not foreseen in the MIA of the Maya Train.
In turn, he indicated that the fauna oases could help the animals to bully their mobilization despite the passage of the train, but this does not solve the environmental problem, due to the dimensions of the project.
Even, it is probable that with this they continue talking about running over animals because it is not guaranteed that they use them, as happens with the roads, in addition all these developments are added to the other threats that affect the environment of the peninsula.
TYT Newsroom
