It was December 2018. Andrés Manuel López Obrador had only been president of Mexico for a few days and, at that time, he assured that not a single tree would be cut down in the construction of the Tren Maya. Five years later, an analysis of satellite images shows that at least 6659 hectares have been deforested as a result of the works carried out around the so-called Mayan Train, one of the emblematic projects of the current government and which is being built in the Yucatan Peninsula, in southern Mexico.
CartoCrítica’s analysis of satellite images shows that by June 2023 there were 10,831 hectares occupied for work related to the Tren Maya, 61% of which was deforested.
That means that 6659 hectares that had forest cover in 2018 now look bare. In their place are railroad tracks or are built stations, bus stops, power stations, electrical zones, machinery yards, access roads or are areas that are used as material banks.
The 6659 hectares deforested are equivalent to almost ten times the area currently occupied by the Chapultepec Forest in Mexico City, and almost 20 times the area of Central Park in New York, in the United States.
In its analysis, presented on August 2, CartoCrítica also highlights that 87% of the deforested area (5769 hectares) was cleared or cut down ignoring environmental legislation, since the work was carried out without the authorization for Change of Use of Soil in Forest Land (CUST) granted by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), which is required by law.
Hours after CartoCrítica, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda), the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation released the mapping tool for the Tren Maya at a press conference, Semarnat issued a press release stating that there are “inconsistencies” in the data presented by the organizations.
Six thousand hectares that ceased to be Mayan Rainforest.
To perform the analysis on the effects that the Tren Maya is having on the forest cover of the Yucatan Peninsula, CartoCrítica compared satellite images from November 2018 and from May and June 2023. In addition, it used data from the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) on land cover that existed before the train as a reference. The entire methodology is available within the mapping tool.
“We did not take into account land speculation (which is occurring around the area due to the railway project) or the hotel infrastructure that is being built,” explained Manuel Llano, director of CartoCrítica, during the conference where the mapping tool on the Tren Maya was presented. https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=10629860-316e-11ee-b5bd-6595d9b17862
The analysis of the satellite images shows that of the area deforested by the Train Maya works, 4139 hectares were low and medium rainforest; 2246 hectares were occupied by medium deciduous forest; 70 hectares were mangrove and petén (in the Yucatan Peninsula this is the name given to the islands of arboreal vegetation found in flood zones) and 11.4 hectares were medium and high evergreen forest.
Satellite images also showed that stretches 4 and 6 stand out for being the most deforested areas so far. In section 4, which goes from Izamal to Cancun, 1640 hectares have been deforested, while the construction of section 6, from Tulum to Chetumal, has caused the loss of 1308 hectares of forest cover.
Deforested area by vegetation type and land use change authorization. Table created by CartoCrítica.
At the press conference, Sergio Madrid, member of the CCMSS, mentioned that the National Forest Inventory indicates that in the ecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula, one hectare can hold an average of 900 trees. If this figure is taken as a reference, around 6 million trees have been cut down in the region as a consequence of the work on the Tren Maya.
In February 2023, in a response to a request for information, the Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (Fonatur) – the agency in charge of the Tren Maya project – stated that 3.4 million trees had been felled or removed as a result of the work carried out in the different sections of the project. According to Fonatur’s response, it is in sections 4 and 5 where most trees have been cut down or removed.
The Sélvame del Tren collective has calculated that at least 10 million trees have been cut down or removed due to the construction of the Tren Maya.
Deforestation in disregard of the law
In order for a person, company or federal, state or municipal government institution to clear or log land, the General Law of Sustainable Forest Development establishes that it is necessary to submit a request to Semarnat for authorization of Change of Use of Land in Forest Land (CUSTF).
Semarnat can only authorize a CUSTF in exceptional cases. At the press conference, Viridiana Maldonado, Cemda’s lawyer, reminded that “the exception only applies when these changes in land use do not compromise biodiversity or cause soil erosion, deterioration in water quality or the carbon storage capacity of ecosystems.”
Upon analyzing the 18 CUSTF authorizations related to the Tren Maya that Semarnat has granted, the organizations found that 16 of them were authorized during 2023, that is, when the work had already begun and the land had already been cleared.
“Forestry policy prohibits this type of practice that Fonatur is carrying out, such as clearing land and then seeking to obtain authorization,” Maldonado pointed out. In fact, the General Law of Sustainable Forestry Development states that no change in land use can be granted for the next 20 years in areas where logging or clearing has been carried out without authorization. “Semarnat would be obliged to deny those authorizations,” mentioned Cemda’s lawyer.
When analyzing how many of the 6659 hectares that have been deforested by the works of the so-called Mayan Train were cleared or felled without having an authorization for change of land use, CartoCrítica found that in 87% of that area the forest cover was removed without having CUSTF.
“Fonatur does have some land use change authorizations, but not enough… The authorizations are few, incomplete and late,” said Manuel Llano, director of CartoCrítica, an organization that for more than five years has been promoting public access to geo-referenced socio-environmental information in order to, among other things, conserve biological and cultural diversity.
In its communiqué, Semarnat assures that the provisional authorizations granted under the decree of November 2021, when López Obrador declared all works and projects of the federal government to be of public interest and of national security, including the so-called Mayan Train, are still valid.
On May 18, 2023, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation declared as unconstitutional the decree of the end of 2021. Four hours later, López Obrador published a new decree in which, once again, he establishes the works of the Tren Maya and the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec as national security issues.
“The provisional authorizations granted prior to the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation were not without effect, as determined by the ruling itself, so the works of the Tren Maya continue in accordance with the legal framework,” the Sermarnat said in its communiqué.
In a press release published on Thursday, August 3, the organizations emphasized that provisional authorizations do not exist in environmental laws, and that the judicial authorities have also pointed out that they cannot replace the procedures that the law contemplates: the CUSTFs and the Environmental Impact Assessment.
In the 18 authorizations that have been given for the construction of the Tren Maya, Sergio Madrid emphasized that there was “no risk assessment, no review of the irreversible damages. It is not only a violation of what the laws of the country require, but it is the gravity of not having evidence of what this authorization implies”.
Manuel Llano, director of CartoCrítica, also highlighted that for sections 6 (from Tulum to Chetumal) and 7 (from Bacalar to Escárcega) there is still no registered authorization for a change of land use on forest land. “Even so, deforestation has already taken place.”
The Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Medio Ambiente (Profepa) is the agency that, according to the law, should determine whether a change of land use on forest land violated the law and impose warnings, fines or suspension of the work. “Several popular complaints have been filed and Profepa has remained passive,” Maldonado denounced.
Mongabay Latam asked Profepa for a position on the matter, but as of the publication of this text there has been no response.
Cemda’s lawyer also reminded that the Federal Criminal Code considers it a crime to clear or cut without a land use change authorization. The penalty for this action can be up to nine years in prison and the entity in charge of investigating whether there is a crime is the Specialized Unit for Environmental Crimes of the Attorney General’s Office.
The deforestation carried out for the works of the so-called Mayan Train “not only goes beyond the law.” Sergio Madrid remarked that the loss of forest cover also means “the fragmentation of the jungle, the destruction of habitat for hundreds of species of flora and fauna, the contamination of aquifers, the destruction of subterranean cavities, the filling of wetlands, the interruption of natural water flows and the destruction of the livelihoods of indigenous communities.”
Disregard of a court order
Since October 2021, Cemda’s lawyers denounced that changes in land use were being made on forest land during the construction of the Tren Maya without authorization from Semarnat. On that date they presented before the First District Court in Yucatan the results of an overflight along the train line. At that time, they documented that at least 144 hectares of Mayan jungle had been cleared.
It was not until May 2023, when the First District Court in Yucatán ordered Fonatur to suspend any logging or clearing that did not have authorization to change land use in sections 3 (Calkiní-Izamal), 4 (Izamal-Cancún), 5 north (Cancún-Playa del Carmen) and 6 (Tulúm-Chetumal).
In order to make this decision, the Court pointed out that “the provisional authorizations issued based on the Agreement for the execution of the construction works of the railroad does not replace the authorizations (of change of land use) that imply a technical and scientific study prior to the work, which by not being issued, puts at risk by itself the ecosystem where it will be developed, because it would allow the beginning of works without knowing the repercussions and damages that may be caused by it, in the understanding that in many occasions the environmental damages are irreparable.”
According to the organization’s analysis, in June 2023 alone, sections 3, 4, 5 north and 6, 67.4 hectares were dismantled or cut down without the authorization to change land use. “There is an alleged illegality and contempt on the part of Fonatur and those building the train works in these sections,” said Llano.
Sections 5 north, 6 and 7 are being built by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).
Lawyer Viridiana Maldonado also stated that “they are carrying out land clearing activities within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
Sergio Madrid recalled that the Yucatan Peninsula is home to the Mayan Rainforest, the second most important tropical forest in the Americas after the Amazon. In addition, this territory is home to the largest underwater cave system in the world. This natural heritage is at risk: “Today there is an intense process of deforestation in the Yucatan Peninsula.”
Every year, he said, between 40,000 and 90,000 hectares are deforested in the Yucatan Peninsula. This “dynamic process of deforestation” is being generated by the energy, tourism, mining, real estate and agro-industrial projects that have been promoted in the region for some 20 years. This process, warned Madrid, will intensify with the so-called Tren Maya, which “will interconnect and potentiate these projects.”
Semarnat comments on the data
In a communiqué released shortly after the mapping tool on the Tren Maya was presented, the Semarnat pointed out that “the study shown indicates that there are 6659 total hectares susceptible to land use change in forest lands, when the total registered before the Semarnat in the definitive and provisional authorizations is 3167.29 hectares.”
The agency assured that these 3167.29 hectares represent “the total number of hectares officially identified” with change of land use and that all of them have a definitive or provisional authorization.
Semarnat also mentions that the mapping tool developed by CartoCrítica considers “banks of materials that are not necessarily part of the Tren Maya project and that are owned by private parties that offer services to various clients.”
In response to Semarnat’s response, CartoCrítica, Cemda and the Heinrich Böll Foundation issued a statement in which they pointed out that the figure of 6659 hectares deforested by the works related to the Tren Maya is supported by satellite evidence. “The data presented are backed up, meter by meter, with the satellite images used for their calculation.”
The Semarnat communiqué points out that the study conducted by CartoCrítica considers only 18 “definitive authorizations” totaling 1727.70 hectares and not the 889.9 hectares claimed by the organizations.
On this issue, the organizations point out that according to the information to which they have had access, Fonatur has requested 28 authorizations for changes in land use on forest land (CUSTF), of which two were rejected, eight are under evaluation, and 18 have been authorized.
The organizations pointed out that the 18 CUSTF authorizations, according to the respective resolutions, include 1726.31 hectares. However, due to the fact that not all information is public, for the analysis it was only possible to access the geographic location of 76% of these authorizations (1314.42 hectares). “The area that was not possible to georeference is 412.32 hectares and corresponds to a portion exclusively of section 5.”
The Semarnat communiqué points out that the study conducted by CartoCrítica considers only 18 “definitive authorizations” totaling 1727.70 hectares and not the 889.9 hectares claimed by the organizations.
On this issue, the organizations point out that according to the information to which they have had access, Fonatur has requested 28 authorizations for changes in land use on forest land (CUSTF), of which two were rejected, eight are under evaluation, and 18 have been authorized.
The organizations pointed out that the 18 CUSTF authorizations, according to the respective resolutions, include 1726.31 hectares. However, due to the fact that not all information is public, for the analysis it was only possible to access the geographic location of 76% of these authorizations (1314.42 hectares). “The area that was not possible to georeference is 412.32 hectares and corresponds to a portion exclusively of section 5.”
Original article by Thelma Gómez Duran published in Desinformémonos on August 17th, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.