Tren Maya Environmental Compensation Programme — Contested Deforestation Offset (Mexico)

The Tren Maya is a roughly 1,554-kilometre railway built across five states of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula by the federal tourism-infrastructure agency Fonatur from 2020. Independent satellite analysis by the NGO CartoCrítica, published via the Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible (CCMSS), found that sections 5–7 of the line alone (Cancún–Tulum–Chetumal–Escarcega) deforested 6,018.3 hectares — 2,015.3 ha in section 5, 2,076 ha in section 6 and 1,927.3 ha in section 7 — plus a further 1,055 hectares affected by 185 material-extraction sites. Mongabay's reporting corroborates a similar order of magnitude: at least 6,659 ha directly deforested and 10,831 ha occupied for the project as of mid-2023.

CCMSS's analysis found that 67% of the deforested area lacked the required Change of Land Use (CUSTF) authorisation, and that sections 5–7 began construction before completing Environmental Impact Assessments (MIA) or receiving approval from the environment ministry SEMARNAT. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights separately found that the November–December 2019 indigenous consultation process 'did not meet all international standards.'

Facing sustained pressure from civil-society groups, journalists and the courts, SEMARNAT has since required a package of mitigation and compensation measures — described by the government as 208 environmental programmes and 1,252 mitigation measures — including construction of more than 1,579 wildlife crossings and drainage structures, a reforestation programme, and relocation of affected wildlife. Mongabay reported in 2025 that the federal government has been actively working to 'correct' documented Tren Maya environmental damage, including remediation of affected cenotes and water bodies.

Caveat: this is an explicitly contested case. Independent monitors report that unauthorised clearing continued after the compensation programme was announced, and none of the sources reviewed contain independently verified figures for hectares actually reforested or restored, nor third-party validation of the wildlife-crossing outcomes. The practice is included here as a documented, large-scale, real-world example of ex-post biodiversity compensation carried out under significant governance and transparency strain — not as a model to replicate.

Read the full analysis: https://ccmss.org.mx/deforestacion_por_tren_maya_quintanaroo/