Water and Earth: Environmental issues in the Yucatan

Water and Earth: Environmental Issues in the Yucatan

The Yucatan Peninsula, the region that encompasses the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo, attracts more than 3.2 million visitors every year! Travellers from all over the world marvel at its rich beauty and describe their experiences in the area as otherworldly and transformative.

The ongoing pandemic has slowed down travel to tourist hotspots around the world and made us consider the environmental costs of traveling. Some popular tourist destinations have reported clearer waters and more robust wildlife as a result of the slow down. The economic costs of the slow down has been less forgiving, for the travel industry boosts these economies and provides a variety of opportunities to locals.

At Na’atik, sustainable travel is one of our core values, and we believe it is our duty to foster the growing consciousness of our guests concerning the area as much as possible.  So, If you want to learn more about the environmental issues that concern the Yucatan peninsula then keep reading!

It is our hope that increased awareness of these issues will drive forward some change.

The Fall of the Maya Civilization 

The Yucatan Peninsula was once home to the ancient Maya civilization which collapsed around 9th century A.D., the demise of which can be attributed to droughts, soil erosion and famine; a consequence of the region’s fragility and diversity. Since then, modern Maya communities continue to live among temperate rainforests, savannahs, and underground river and cave systems, and they endure the onslaughts of hurricanes, swamps, flooding, dry seasons and hurricanes. Existing in such conditions has been a lesson in environmental, cultural, and technological adaptation on part of the Maya. 

The Water Problem

Despite the humidity and having 35% more precipitation than other regions of Mexico, Water access has always been a challenge in the Yucatan region. Historically, the Maya have been dependent on groundwater and aquifers for sustenance. The lack of water can be attributed to the region’s typography which is rugged and permeable; water flows through the ground, mostly porous limestone, easily passing through interconnected channels and eventually finding itself at the coast. Throughout the Yucatan peninsula, there are no natural lakes or rivers; the water system is made up of underground rivers and lagoons. The aquifers do not carry much water considering the amount of precipitation that the region receives because of the porous rock. 

The Maya have developed many different ways of coping with the water scarcity by making wells to access groundwater, as well as aguadas. Aguadas are water collection systems constructed in the depression of limestone which are still used today for both drinking and agriculture. As the population of the Yucatan increases along with tourism, it puts enormous pressure on the region to not only keep up with the demand for water but protect its sources. The Yucatan's highly permeable typography has also made it easy for wastewater to infiltrate the groundwater. Twenty-five percent of the Yucatan’s household wastewater empties directly into the cenotes and much of it is untreated. When people wash dishes, the detergents and oils go into the ground and these filter into the underground water systems. Most households throughout the peninsula have no treatment for gray water. There are also some areas that do not have sewage collection but drainage canals carrying untreated water. Eventually this water gets into the wells and renders them unusable. Researchers fear that this water could potentially penetrate the clay layers on the ground and access the aquifers. Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatan, once had thousands of wells but they have since been abandoned because of contamination. Now the city relies on a well field located outside of the city.

 Cenotes and connecting water systems

 One of the most otherworldly and beautiful aspects of the Yucatan is the abundance of cenotes. Cenotes or dzonot as they are called in Maya, are sinkholes to an underground network of interconnected rivers said to be the result of the collision of the same asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. In Mexico, there are over 2,000 cenotes, some of which experience up to 2,000 daily visitors. Cenotes not only facilitate tourist activity such as zip-lining, swimming and snorkeling, but are a source of drinking water for over 2 million residents in the Yucatan area. Unfortunately, tourist activity exposes the cenotes to the risk of contamination, for tourists often leave sunscreen, cosmetics and other inorganic material after swimming. If you want to visit a cenote washing yourself thoroughly before entering one will reduce your impact by prevent pollution. 

Deforestation and the Maya train   

Deforestation is a polarizing issue to residents of the Yucatan, for while some believe that the rainforest should be preserved, others believe that deforestation offers opportunities for income and development. As the consumption of pork and beef rises, so does the demand to make space to facilitate that demand: Twenty to eighty thousand hectares of jungle is lost every year and almost 40 percent of this jungle has already been chopped down to make room for agriculture and cattle farming. 

The Maya Train, a 160 billion MXN project is an initiative to boost the tourism industry in the Yucatan. The proposed train will connect Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo. The project will transport 50,000 people per day and to create 1.1 million jobs. However, it has been met with resistance from groups such as the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) who see the social and environmental impacts of the project, more notably the social and ecological damage it will have on the regions the train traverses. Indigenous communities fear the looming threat of dispossession and inequalities that often pair themselves with such projects. 

Is there a solution to deforestation?

Researchers suspect that there will be no more jungles in 100 years because of the high rates of deforestation. The government has attempted to implement reforestation programs, but it seems that this has done nothing but encourage more deforestation; landowners take advantage of such programs by chopping down their trees, selling off the wood and then signing up for the program. They are then paid up to $200 dollars a month to maintain a reforestation program. Environmental concerns about deforestation have inspired  discussions about promoting more ancient and sustainable systems of agriculture such as the milpa method. The milpa method was developed during the Mesoamerican period. It is a method of farming which involves intercropping complementary vegetables such as squash, corn, hot peppers and beans in slash and burn small-plot farms. The method involves two years of cultivating the land and eight years of leaving it unsown. It is considered a highly sustainable method of growing crops and produces higher and more stable yields. The milpa is not only a method of agriculture but a way of life which fosters relationships between farmers and communities.

How can we begin to solve these problems?

“The government needs to work with the communities.” Says Dulce Magaña, an environmentally active community member of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, "We don’t have the education to talk about these problems so it impacts how we can work together to look for the solutions.” Committed to decreasing the impact of day-to-day  human activity in her community, Dulce worked on a cookstove initiative to make effective stoves that require less firewood and produce less pollution.

"We have some small groups trying to make an impact, we also have a few NGOs trying to make an impact, including my own. We are doing our best to change things. I think the communities are beginning to recognize the importance of our natural resources and how they benefit us in the long-run. Communities are also trying to assert their autonomy and do the best for the environment."

 Considering these surmounting issues, the future of travel to the Yucatan must involve striking a balance between enriching our lives with new experiences and being sensitive to issues regarding the environment. We can only hope that human ingenuity, collaboration, and perhaps a consideration of past practices, provide hope for a sustainable future of the Yucatan. 

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