Mexico's Riviera Maya Environmental Groups Oppose Megaproject at Punta Venado

Civil society groups in the Riviera Maya, including Cenotes Urbanos, Moce Yax Cuxtal, Sélvame MX and Defending the Right to a Healthy Environment (DMAS), have launched a campaign to stop a large tourism development in the Punta Venado‑Paamul biological corridor. The project, authorized by SEMARNAT in May, is the "Complex Ecoturístico Riviera Maya" to be built by Oleum Joint Venture, with 572 hotel rooms and an estimated investment of 800 million pesos, located three kilometres from Xcaret.

Activists warn that the construction threatens the underground river system, the regional aquifer, and one of the last fragments of coastal forest and mangrove that provides habitat for jaguars, deer and nesting sea‑turtles. They have filed legal challenges citing Mexican environmental law that protects mangroves and hydrology, and have opened a petition on Change.org that has gathered 2,896 verified signatures demanding the cancellation of the megaproject. The groups are urging federal, state and municipal authorities to respect the area's ecological value amid ongoing pressure for real‑estate development.