Mexico Resort Plans Under Threat from Local Activists OPP Media
go to original March 16, 2012

The town of Cabo Pulmo (Ralph Lee Hopkins)

Development plans for a major new resort to be built on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico are under threat as local activists try to stop construction going ahead in an area where a successful environmental rescue project has led to the coral reefs growing again.

The resort, which will be named Cabo Cortes, is being backed by a division of the Spanish resort developer Hansa Urbana, which ran into trouble during the global financial crisis, partly because it became over-extended when building resorts along the Spanish coast. The company was later acquired by Spanish bank Banco Sabadell.

The developer's website says that is plans “to preserve a percentage of the land in its natural state," and that the marina will be located 10 miles away from the main reef. The firms also insists that the project will not damage the reef and it has promised to donate 1 million pesos ($78,500) per year to preserve the protected area.

Less than twenty years ago, Cabo Pulmo’s shallow offshore coral reefs were typically degraded and commercial fishing boats sailed directly overhead, dragging their anchors through the coral, to get at valuable species that lived there, causing the reef to be named a protected area in 1995. Environmentalists are concerned about the level of pollution the construction would bring to the area as well as the damage the extra activity the actual vacation area would bring to the coral, which has now been successfully restored. They are also concerned about the impact of the additional residential homes, for the resort employees, in an area where water is scarce.

The World Wildlife Fund presented President Felipe Calderón with 13,000 signatures from around the world, urging him to put a stop to the plans and cancel the permits, held by the regional Spanish bank.

The local coral reefs are “unique, not only in Mexico, but in the world," said Omar Vidal, the head of the WWF in Mexico.

NRDC are working to ensure the permanent protection for the lagoon and its surroundings, having already achieved the highest level of protection for 346,850 acres of land and are working to secure the other 150,000 acres.

Mexico’s environment department granted permission for construction to begin back in 2008 however activists argue that no serious studies about the potential damage to the reef were carried out. Critics say authorities granted the permits in this case because they wanted the outside investment, or were afraid investors would sue the governments for unfairly affecting their interests.

Department spokeswoman Laura Aguilar told OPP that tough conditions were imposed on the project in 2011 and said it would "take years" for developers to meet them, adding, "The truth is, I don't know if they can do it, I don't know if the company is in any condition to do it," Aguilar said.

It remains unclear as to whether the Banco Sabadell plans to continue with this project or sell it. If completed the project would consist of 15 hotels, two golf courses, a 490 slip marina, a private jet strip and desalination and water treatment plants.

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