STOP THE MEGAPROJECT
IN LA VENTANA
On the coast between La Ventana, El Sargento and Punta Arena, facing the Cerralvo Island Channel, a real-estate mega project threatens to urbanize more than 3,500 hectares of pristine desert and sea — a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.
THE PROBLEM
Why act now?
On the coastal strip between La Ventana, El Sargento and Punta Arena, in the municipality of La Paz, Baja California Sur, there is a plan to urbanize 3,519 hectares of today-untouched desert and beach: the equivalent of more than four times the size of Chapultepec Park, Mexico City's largest green space.
The project, authorized in 2016 as the "Península de los Sueños Master Plan" and now relaunched as "Los Saguaros Marina Resort", proposes six decades of construction that would transform more than 13 kilometers of coastline facing the Cerralvo Island Channel, in the heart of the Sea of Cortez.
.jpeg)
CONTEXT
La Ventana, El Sargento y Punta Arena · La Paz, B.C.S.
UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site
Los Saguaros Marina Resort (formerly Península de los Sueños)
Change.org · Petición ciudadana
OUR DEMANDS
What we're calling for
Revocar la Autorización de Impacto Ambiental de 2016 que ampara el proyecto, hoy relanzado como "Los Saguaros Marina Resort".
Realizar una evaluación ambiental actualizada e independiente que considere la desalación, las zonas muertas y el impacto acumulado sobre el Canal de Isla Cerralvo.
Garantizar el acceso público a las playas y frenar el cercado, la seguridad privada y la sobreexplotación del acuífero.
Respetar los derechos de la comunidad y resolver las disputas agrarias vigentes antes de cualquier autorización u obra.
WHAT THEY WANT TO BUILD
A private city on the coast
This master plan is no small development: it is an entire city built over desert and sea, with its own water, energy and transport infrastructure, designed for high-income residents and tourists.
THE GRAVEST FIGURE
Water and dead zones
A city this size in a semi-desert region needs enormous amounts of water. To get it, an industrial desalination plant would draw around 55 million liters of seawater a day, remove the salt, and return the rest to the ocean as brine.
That brine comes back almost twice as salty as seawater: about 30 million liters daily, the equivalent of 12 Olympic swimming pools of salty waste every day. Because it is heavier, it sinks and displaces the oxygen near the seafloor, creating "dead zones": areas of the seabed where oxygen drops so low that marine life simply disappears.
THE LIFE AT STAKE
One of the most alive seas on Earth
The Gulf of California — which Jacques Cousteau called "the world's aquarium" — holds more than 900 fish species and 39% of all marine mammal species on Earth. Five of the seven sea turtle species in the world live here, alongside reefs and migratory birds.
The Cerralvo Island Channel is a corridor of life: giant manta rays, sharks, dolphins and sea lions pass through it. Blue, humpback and fin whales migrate here; sperm whales swim these waters; and orcas have been documented using the channel to raise their calves. Building a marina and dumping brine right here would break that corridor.
Blue whale
Giant manta ray
Humpback whale
Dolphins
Fin whale
Sea lion
Orca
Migratory birds
Sperm whale
Sharks