43,000 Sign Petition to Stop Chuburná Dune Project

Heavy machinery has been clearing dune vegetation on a stretch of coastline here, and the work has triggered one of the largest environmental petitions the Yucatán coast has seen in years.

More than 43,000 people have signed an online petition demanding a halt to “Las Dunas,” a real estate project planned near El Playón de Chuburná, not far from the popular Isla Columpios tour site. The petition, organized by the collective Salvemos Las Dunas, calls on federal, state and municipal authorities to review the project’s permits and prevent what organizers describe as irreversible damage to one of the peninsula’s best-preserved dune systems.

The development is led by Designia Desarrollos, a company also behind Paseo 60 and the Tívoli hotel in Mérida. Plans call for apartment towers, commercial space, roads and parking spread across more than 92,000 square meters, or about 22.7 acres, Por Esto! reported. Other local outlets have put the residential component at 74 units.

Residents and environmental groups say vegetation clearing began without community consultation, despite the site’s ecological sensitivity. The dunes serve as a nesting ground for hawksbill and green sea turtles, both protected species, and provide habitat for two birds found almost nowhere else: the Mexican sheartail hummingbird and the Yucatán wren, both listed under Mexico’s endangered-species standard, NOM-059-SEMARNAT.

Coastal dunes also act as a natural barrier against hurricanes and storm surge, absorbing wind and wave energy before it reaches homes and roads farther inland. Researchers have found that damaged dune systems can take decades to recover, and some damage never fully heals.

The controversy has also pulled in local tour operators. Several tourism businesses working near Isla Columpios issued public statements this week distancing themselves from the project after social media posts suggested a connection.

The Yucatán state government responded by asking Mexico’s environmental agencies, Semarnat and Profepa, to confirm the project complies with federal requirements. State officials said existing permits already require the developer to preserve 45,728 square meters — about 11.3 acres — of coastal wetland, plus 2,880 square meters, or 0.71 acres, of federal maritime-terrestrial zone, together more than half the property. Because the site touches wetlands and federally protected coastline, final authority over the project rests with the federal government rather than the state.

As of this week, no formal work stoppage had been announced. It isn’t the first time development has run into environmental pushback in Chuburná; in a previous Chuburná case, Profepa temporarily shut down a beachfront project in 2018 after protected thatch palms were cleared without an environmental permit.

For now, the petition keeps growing, and residents say they’re watching to see whether federal regulators intervene before construction goes further.

Fast Facts

• Project name: “Las Dunas,” developed by Designia Desarrollos
• Location: near El Playón de Chuburná, Progreso municipality
• Size: more than 92,000 square meters (about 22.7 acres)
• Reported unit count: 74 apartments
• Petition signatures: more than 43,000 as of late July 2026
• Protected species affected: hawksbill and green sea turtles; Mexican sheartail hummingbird; Yucatán wren
• Oversight agencies: Semarnat and Profepa (federal); state urban-environmental permitting office
• Required conservation area under existing permits: 45,728 square meters of wetland and 2,880 square meters of federal maritime-terrestrial zone

With reporting from Por Esto!, La Jornada Maya, Noticaribe and a Change.org petition organized by the collective Salvemos Las Dunas.