Manglares Navolato faces legal questions as Housesin Desarrollos clears protected mangroves on Isla Cortés without transferring EIS rights or securing permits, threatening coastal habitats and migratory birds.
Isla Cortés sits along the shore of Navolato, where dense mangroves buffer hurricanes, cradle marine life, and shelter migratory birds. Yet heavy machinery now scars this fragile habitat, as Housesin Desarrollos pushes forward with its private Manglares tourist development—part of the larger Nuevo Altata real estate scheme—without completing required environmental approvals.
In March 2002, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) issued an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Nuevo Altata (file 25SI2002T0003), renewed in May 2025. The document highlights protected species on the 25-hectare Lucenilla Peninsula site, including Conocarpus erectus mangroves and Guaiacum coulteri (guayacán), under NOM-059-SEMARNAT-1996. It bars any increase in lot density or work that harms mangrove areas, mandates that mangroves remain untouched, and requires mitigation measures for bird resting and breeding zones. Despite this, workers are filling and clearing land just meters from remaining waterways, uprooting mangrove stands and altering soil classified as “moderate, permanent, and irreversible” by the EIS—without acknowledging the complexity of coastal wetland soils.
A recent site visit confirmed canals have been dug, fill mounds erected, and native vegetation stripped. Rows of newly planted palm trees trace the outline of future streets. No municipal building permit appears in Navolato City Council records, nor is there authorization from State Civil Protection, whose oversight is essential for construction on hurricane-prone coastlines. The Urban Development and Ecology Department lists no application from Housesin for land-use change, permit to remove protected trees, or evidence of partial transfer of EIS obligations from the master plan to the Manglares subproject.
Local sources estimate at least one hectare of mangrove has vanished, replaced by an artificial island ringed with canals and roads. Aerial imagery obtained by El Debate Sinaloa shows heavy equipment operating within a few steps of the waterway, where isolated mangrove fragments cling to survival. Navolato’s mayor, Jorge Bojórquez of the PAN-PRI coalition, has yet to address whether the project will halt until environmental and civil-protection approvals are in place.
Although Housesin has not formally listed any lots for sale, a promotional sign and leaked site sketches circulate online, depicting residential blocks, green spaces, and a central canal with private docks. Onsite workers say sales will begin in a few years. A company sales agent claimed they had “no details yet” on development timing. Meanwhile, environmental experts warn any unassessed expansion could distort the island’s ecological balance.
“Manglares are untouchable,” says one marine ecologist. “They stand as our first line of defense against storms and host the nursery grounds for many key fish species. Removing them without permits breaches both the General Law on Sustainable Forest Development and the General Law on Wildlife.”
As Housesin moves forward without clear legal standing, the fate of Isla Cortés’s mangroves—and the coastal resilience they provide—hangs in the balance.
