Observations of the Yucatan Environment

By Nora Burnham

It has been 14 years since I last visited the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. In the past, I thought it was one of the cleaner parts of Mexico as far as Merida being a very clean city and the highways less littered. Development has hit the "Mayan Riviera" big time since my last visit, but it appears that at some point in time they made a conscientious decision to make up for part of the destruction they were causing. One observation I made was that many of the large hotels, condos and even small lodging facilities along the coast, in trying to conserve water, encouraged using the towels for more than one day and not changing the sheets daily if you were staying for a few days. A second observation I made was that they actually have recycling bins in the condos separate from the garbage bins. A third observation I made was that at the major ruin sites, such as Tulum, ChichenItza and Coba , as well as, the commercial snorkeling sites, such as Xel-ha, they have recycling bins, asking us to separate the materials in the correct bins.

A fourth observation was some alternative ideas used at some of the smaller lodging facilities. At one place we stayed on Isla Holbox (northwest of Cancun), they installed composting toilets and used recycled timber to build the palapa -style huts. The owner said he knew of at least 4 other places on the eastern coast that had installed the composting toilets. I read about another small lodging facility outside of Tulum, where they use wind-generated electricity, solar energy, and recycled water. A fifth point is that both Akumal Bay and the condo-ringed Half Moon Bay just north of it have stringent rules to protect the sea turtles who come to lay their eggs on the beaches. At nesting time, no one may walk on the beaches and all outside lights are to be turned out at night so as not to disorientate the baby turtles as they head out to sea.

Two of the less developed towns at this point in time are Puerto Morelos and Tulum. In Puerto Morelos, there is a strong community of environmentalists and artists, thanks to whom the coral reef offshore was recently declared a national marine park. Hopefully this new status should provide some protection against the encroaching commercial development and help this small fishing town retain its fragile ecosystem . Growth has been less kind in Tulum. However, there is also a large faction of environmentalists living there. Between Akumal and Tulum is a beach, Xcacel, which is the scene of an international environmental dispute that has become the symbol of what has gone wrong along the coast. For decades this beach has been the most important breeding ground for the Atlantic Green and Loggerhead Turtles-both endangered species. It was a federal reserve until an ex-governor of Quintana Roo sold it in 1998 to a Spanish conglomerate for a mere $2.2 million dollars-the price of a Cancun condo. Plans for a 450-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, and an "eco-disco" were put on hold after local environmentalists alerted the world to what was happening. The battle for the beach continues, but...

In 1986, the Mexican government established the 1.3 plus million-acre Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, which is an internationally protected area. The Sian Ka'an reserve constitutes 10% of the land in the state of Quintana Roo and covers 100 kilometers of coast. Freshwater and coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps, savannahs, tropical forests, a barrier reef, hundreds of species of local and migratory birds, fish, other animals and plants, and fewer than 1,000 residents (primarily Maya) share this area. The reserve is one of the last undeveloped stretches of coastline in North America.

Sian Ka'an participates in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization program "Man and the Biosphere". Its mandate is to maintain and preserve the ecological diversity in biologically rich areas while educating the locals to do likewise. Under the program, the land is divided for various purposes, including research, preservation and economic activities in conjunction with conservation. Assisted by scientists, the local population in Sian Ka'an makes a living through fishing, lobster harvests, and small farming and receives support from low-impact tourism, biological research and sustainable development programs.

I left the Yucatan perplexed by the amount of development, but also feeling that there may be some hope for the future of this now developed place.

This column originally appeared in January 2001 in the Chico Examiner.