The Maya train is a 1,500 km tourist megaproject that is set to bulldoze its way through the last remaining forests of Southern Mexico. And Europe's rail companies are lining up to profit from it.
The Mexican Government is selling the destructive railway project as progress, development and tourism. In reality, its construction is being forced on local Indigenous people.
Communities there know building this project will only lead to an escalation of the violent attacks they are already suffering. Along with the forests goes their means of survival -- which is also the home to 2000 jaguars.
Thanks to brave communities taking the Mexican government to court, temporary suspensions have been imposed on some sections of the railway. Now is the time for us to mount pressure. This is our chance to get them to abandon the project and save the rainforests of Mexico.
Construction of the tracks will destroy 23 nature reserves, passing by UNESCO World Heritage sites. What makes matters worse is that some sections of the railways of the train are being built without any approved environmental assessment -- against national and international standards.
This is no train for the people. It is estimated that 70% of the train's income will come from the transportation of water-polluting fuels, soybeans and pork.
International law does not allow projects to be carried out without consent from the indigenous communities. Even the UN criticized the sham consultation organized by the Government of Mexico in 2019! We need to be many to stop the catastrophic effects that this train will have on people and the planet.
Together, as the Ekō community, we have saved many rainforests. We have bought parts of the rainforests in Brazil to save the land of the Tupinambá and strengthen their fight against deforestation by timber companies -- today we can help save the Mexican rainforests!
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More information
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 19 December 2019.
Wall Street Journal. 12 June 2020.