An international NGO that investigates violations of “the rights of nature” has given a massive thumbs down to the Mayan Tourist Train project that is set to open in December.
A pet project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who argues the new 950-mile route will create more than 500,000 jobs and lift a million people out of poverty, the Mayan Train has been fiercely criticized for its potential damage to ecosystems and communities in the five southern states through which it passes.
After meeting recently in Cancun, The Rights of Nature Tribunal issued a “people’s verdict” calling the project ecocide, and a statement highlighting the many concerns that it says the federal government has sidestepped in its rush to finish the project.
Among these, says the NGO, are more than 2,500 hectares of wet and dry forests that are being sacrificed—representing almost nine million trees. “It will also affect unique and sacred underground caverns such as cenotes, caves, and aquifers since the train route will pass over these ecosystems that are home for many endemic species,” the statement notes.
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