There are no studies on the impact of the Tulum Airport: Friends of Sian Ka’an

Cancun, QR. The impact that the Tulum Airport will have on the Sian Ka’an natural protected area is still of unknown proportions, since there are no studies, “we don’t know them,” said Gustavo Merediz, president of the Friends of Sian Ka’an association.

He recognized that the proximity between the reserve and the airport is very small, so the impact will be inevitable, although due to the lack of data, it is not yet possible to anticipate in what proportion.

“There is a potential environmental impact to Sian Ka’an, but we don’t know it, we don’t know if there is an Environmental Impact Statement,” he insisted, because being so close to the project, the impact on the natural reserve is inevitable.

With 36 years of life, the Reserve has an area of ​​528,148 hectares. Together with the Uaymil Flora and Fauna Protection Area and the Sian Ka’an Reef Biosphere Reserve, the Sian Ka’an Complex is formed, with an area of ​​652,192.97 hectares and share a single management program. They are located in the municipalities of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Tulum, Bacalar and Othón P. Blanco, in the center and south of Quintana Roo.

Sian Ka’an contains nine ecosystems, three aquatic habitats, 120 kilometers of the Mesoamerican Reef System, which includes four countries: Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico, and is also the habitat for a large number of resident and migratory birds, such as the rare jabiru ( Jabiru mycteria), the largest stork in the American continent that nests in the area, as well as four endangered species: the jaguar, the tapir, the manatee and the peccary, according to data from the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp). ).

official information

What is officially known so far is that the airport involves the felling of at least 1.3 million trees, in addition to 43 environmental impacts (38 adverse and five beneficial) due to the construction of the air terminal, and that there will be disturbances to the fauna due to noise pollution, contamination and destruction of the habitat and the abiotic environment, according to the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) of the project.

The species have a timber use (sawmilling, poles, firewood, etc.). “If the use or type of exploitation is considered, they can be classified as commercial timber (sawmilling), Palizada (construction), Biomass and Common Tropicals. Of the total estimated volume to be removed, 52.0% is concentrated in 13 species with commercialization potential for sawmill (103,231.94 m3), for palisade 22 species that concentrate 44.6% (94,482.41 m3), for biomass 10 species that concentrate only 4.5% (9,537.52 m3), and tropical species 17 species with a volume of 2,286.48 m3 that represent 1.1 % of the total”, reads the document.

The forest resource that will be removed from the Chunyaxché ejido will mainly impact six species that represent 62% of the estimated total, identified as E’elemuy (Mosannona depressa) with 219,871 pieces; Jasché (Alseis yucatanensis), with 115,425; and Yaytin (Gymnanthes lucida), with 113,578.

Likewise, the Chicozapote (Manilkara zapota), with 100,753 pieces; the Ramón, (Brosimum alicastrum), with 76,950; and Chechem (Metopium brownei), with 12,825 specimens.

The document also states that the airport and the complementary military base will be built on an area of ​​12,000 square kilometers (km2), that is, 1,200 hectares, and will also have an access road that will occupy 3.2119 km2 (321.19 hectares) on an area of middle jungle.

In total, the project area totals 1,521.19 hectares, on lands of the Chunyaxché ejido, in the Felipe Carrillo Puerto municipality, the so-called Mayan zone, in the central part of Quintana Roo state.

“The airport is based on a tourist type profile (origin-destination). The dimensions of the projected facilities are based on the forecast of passengers and operations ”, it is added.

estados@eleconomista.mx