Greenpeace fights to protect Quintana Roo from mining threat

Greenpeace Mexico has urged the federal government to finalize its decision to designate a protected natural area on the land earmarked for mining by Calica, a subsidiary of the American company Vulcan Materials, in Quintana Roo.

In the final days of his term, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree establishing the "Felipe Carrillo Puerto" Flora and Fauna Protection Area. This area spans 53,000 hectares and includes parts of the municipalities of Solidaridad, Tulum, and Cozumel. It also encompasses the site where the Calica mine, which was shut down by federal authorities in 2022, operated.

This decision was contested by Vulcan Materials, which declared it would use the mechanisms of the USMCA to reverse the decision. The company also recently sought support from then-President Donald Trump.

Greenpeace highlighted that Calica had blasted the delicate, thin soil over more than 2,000 hectares near Playa del Carmen for three decades to extract construction materials. The environmental organization called for the continuation of the protected natural area's implementation.

The organization stated, "A management plan still needs to be issued to ensure this area can be rehabilitated and the destruction reversed." Greenpeace warned of the challenges ahead, noting, "Vulcan Materials, a company that has profited greatly from devastating the Mayan jungle, is asking the United States government to intervene."

The organization called for unity against extractivism and in favor of protecting the Mayan jungle. It warned that the extraction of materials at the expense of the jungle is a common practice throughout the Yucatan peninsula.

The once lush green land is now filled with large plots of dusty land serving as mines, known as sascaberas. These are named for their banks of rocky materials, commonly known as sascab.