Impact of the Tren Maya megaproject on the biocultural heritage of the Mayan area in Mexico´s best conserved tropical forest

The Tren Maya (Mayan Train), is a megaproject that is currently under construction along the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, a very important region in terms of biocultural diversity. To this day, around 860,000 habitants are Maya speakers -although many more are not fluent in the language anymore. The Maya people have historically sustained the region’s natural resources and biodiversity. The richness of the region includes one of the largest karst aquifers in the world and conserved tropical forest areas, being one of the most important in the continent. However, in the last decade, several megaprojects are threatening the livelihood of the Maya habitants, as well as the hydro-ecological systems that will result in the near future in an unsustainable development. In this context, the present paper recommends that development decisionmaking take place with the participation of the civil society through the establishment of participatory mechanisms, grounded on the values associated with the Maya biocultural heritage. and strengthening local governance to collectively and locally mitigate the negative impacts of such megaprojects.