Peasants from southern Yucatan, who are part of the Regional Association of Foresters of Southern Yucatan and U Kanantaal Sihnaal, (Caring for the Environment), demand that the megaprojects be stopped due to the multiple ways in which they affect their lives and natural resources.
In turn, they revealed that each year more than 20,000 hectares of lowland or secondary forest are lost in this entity due to urban expansion and other causes.
They point out that the water is increasingly polluted and wild animals no longer have food and a place to live.
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“The birds and the badgers now take refuge in our milpas and in two times three they affect our productive system, without hope of bringing food home,” they denounced in a statement.
“Now it is difficult to cultivate and harvest, even badgers are venturing into urban lots or pineapple plantations, although some years ago the opossums waited for them to mature, today they consume them that green,” they pointed out.
In addition, the peasants indicated that now the plots are affected by squirrel plagues, which destroy the nances, mamuncillo fruits, mangoes, among others, this is highlighted in their analysis of the direct effects of the application of the megaprojects.
“Although we heard about the case of Homùno about the huge puddles of feces from the mega-farms in several regions, now those farms have invaded the south of Yucatan, where we not only expect pestilences, but also serious water contamination”
“In the name of employment, megaprojects threaten everyone’s life, where not only crops are lost, but the water we consume is seriously affected forever”
According to their statement, the Mayan peasants of at least 40 municipalities in the central, southern, and eastern zones of Yucatan are the ones who see their harvests reduced due to the effects of climate change, the change in land use, the deforestation and as a consequence the lack of rain.
They also claim the abandonment and the lack of real public policies that promote the integral development of the regions on the part of the state and federal municipal authorities, which in the end favor the dispossession of their territories, since there are no real subsidies to continue reproducing their ancient technology, the Milpa, a system that is characterized by providing a healthy and sustainable diet in the short term of corn, beans, pumpkins, backyard animals and as a by-product of the jungle, honey from bees.
They recalled that, as indigenous peoples and peasants, their human rights are increasingly violated and due to their vulnerability they have been ignored and marginalized by previous and current governments, they say.
They also mention that with the “Mayan” train, they were not even consulted despite the fact that they are directly affected in the peninsular territory.
Therefore, they demand the total suspension of the Mayan Train because “it has caused the arrival [de] actors to encamp our lands, increase violence and, incidentally, put an end to our only economy, the milpa and beekeeping, and in this way aggravate and deprive us of our natural irrigation system, the regular rainy season, and, above all, , for eroding the spirituality of our uses and customs, the living Mayan culture”.
They also ask for the closure of the mega pig farms that operate throughout the state of Yucatan, since they point out that they are contaminating the aquifers and that they put at risk the quality of fresh water, the heritage of new generations.
Keep reading: Judge maintains suspension of mega pig farm activities in Homún
“That our fundamental right to territory and sustainable production be respected, as it was before the emergence of agrochemicals.”
In addition to this, they ask that an emerging fair corn delivery program be implemented, due to last season’s disasters, floods and plagues.
They ask that incentives be granted to those who already produce organically and that the capacity of the peasant in the regeneration of their own technology and the use of ancient knowledge be considered.
Edition: Estefania Cardeña
Megaprojects affect the life of wild animals: Peasants of Yucatan