Dive Travels

SAVE THE CENOTES

An apocalyptic nightmare is threatening the fragile cenotes and underground water ways of Riviera Maya, the  stretch of Caribbean coastline on Mexico’s northeastern Yucatán Peninsula. The Mexican government plans to build a train corridor through the jungle in what’s been reported to be an ill-conceived, poorly planned project known as the "Tren Maya".  It has already disrupted tourism, and resulted in the expropriation of local Mayan lands. Wide swaths of the jungle will be clear cut and pillars will be sunk into the longest flooded cave systems on the planet threatening their collapse, which could likely destroy the caves and disrupt the vital flow of fresh groundwater onto coastal reefs of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.

What You can Do to Help:

1. Educate yourself! Read the articles below
2. Please Sign the Petition: No al Tren Maya sobre los cenotes y cuevas de Quintana Roo (No to the Mayan Train over the cenotes and caves of Quintana Roo)
3. Share these articles and petition on social media
4. Show your support for local dive stores and operators.
5. Voice your concerns to government officials.

Further reading:

• Diver: The Imminent Destruction of Mexico’s Best Dive Sites – One Track at a Time by Natalie Gibb (2.10.22)
• X-Ray: Dive community up in arms over Tren Maya railway project by Larry Cohen (2.14.22)
• DIVE: Divers fear Yucatán train could destroy cenotes by Mark Crowley Russell (2.17.22)
• France 24: Mayan Train, the president's pet project exposing Mexico's cracks (12.15.21)
• France 24 (video): 'Ecocidal': Mexico's 'Maya Train' divides communities (12.15.22)
• Aljezerra: Mexico’s Mayan train suspension divides Indigenous community (4.21.21)

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Photo courtesy of SJ Alice Bennet