Cancun, Mexico Vacations May Not Be Available For Long: See How Global Warming Is Destroying Destination

Cancun has become synonymous with spring break, as the tropical beach is one of the most coveted vacation spots for college students and young adults. But the days of drinking cocktails, enjoying the water and partying at night may be threatened, as scientists are predicting that Cancun could be a victim of climate change. The Caribbean islands are seeing an increase in the number of hurricanes and the natural disaster manages to damage the natural environment. For instance, in 2005, Hurricane Wilma eliminated eight miles of Cancun's beach, exposing the bottom of layer of rock. "It was just rock. You couldn't do anything. You couldn't work. It was really ugly," says Eduardo Jimenez, 65, who sells parasailing rides from the beach, to Voxxi.

The effects of the hurricane were repaired in 2010 with a $70 million project that entailed vacuumed more than 1 billion gallons of sand from the seabed of a proposed marine reserve off Cozumel Island and placing it on the beaches of Cancun. Despite these efforts the devastation from Hurricane Wilma is still noticeable and climate change is still a pressing issues, which raises an important question: Is it worth it to keep rebuilding the beaches of Cancun? For the government of Mexico, there is a financial incentive to keep Cancun a popular locale for vacationers, as Cancun is responsible for generating one-third of the nation's tourism profit of $12.7 billion in 2012.

Unfortunately for Cancun, it's not just the stronger hurricanes that are posing a problem. The sea level in the Caribbean is rising, albeit slowly, due to ice melting in the North and South pole and in the mountain ranges. This melt has resulted in a steady, slow increase of 3 millimeters a year. The rising sea levels, coupled with the hurricanes, will result in Cancun having to make sand dredging an annual maintenance requirement. "We can't move the buildings. They are already there," says Jorge Euan Avila, a natural resource expert at the Yucatan office of Mexico's National Polytechnic Institute. "There is no alternative but to artificially compensate for the sand that is being lost. It is a question of demand and supply, cost versus benefit. There is an economic margin. Cancun is economically important for Mexico so there is the money there to spend increasing amounts on protecting its beaches."