일요일, 7월 31, 2005
"eco-tourism" gone terribly wrong
Recently I came across an analysis of recent development under the name of eco-tourism in parts of western South Korea. As you will see, unfortunately this is far from what eco-tourism is supposed to be.
Birds Korea: Crazy Paving...
... it is increasingly apparent to those with an eye to the future that the economy cannot (and should not) continue to grow in the same way as before, overly dependent on construction and land speculation. Already coastal reclamation has ruined once-beautiful landscapes, and devastated fisheries and fishing communities. Already, rivers, once pristine, became first polluted, then largely concrete-sided and over-exploited. Already, landscapes rich in culture and in natural productivity, deep with enormous potential for education, for tourism and genuinely sustainable development, have been degraded and abused – and the list of sites destined to go the same way includes almost all remaining sites of international importance to biodiversity.
It is especially frustrating and ironic that now, after much of the ‘essential’ infrastructure has been put in place, the construction industry is increasingly committing destructive and wasteful development under the thin guise of “eco-tourism”, tourist infrastructure development, and environmental ‘improvement’. Year after year, the builders and the developers push yet more projects…from remote islands and mountain-tops to beaches, lakes and tidal-flats.
To read the rest and see some photos of "eco-tourism" visit http://www.birdskorea.org/paved.asp ¶ 9:12 오후
Birds Korea: Crazy Paving...
... it is increasingly apparent to those with an eye to the future that the economy cannot (and should not) continue to grow in the same way as before, overly dependent on construction and land speculation. Already coastal reclamation has ruined once-beautiful landscapes, and devastated fisheries and fishing communities. Already, rivers, once pristine, became first polluted, then largely concrete-sided and over-exploited. Already, landscapes rich in culture and in natural productivity, deep with enormous potential for education, for tourism and genuinely sustainable development, have been degraded and abused – and the list of sites destined to go the same way includes almost all remaining sites of international importance to biodiversity.
It is especially frustrating and ironic that now, after much of the ‘essential’ infrastructure has been put in place, the construction industry is increasingly committing destructive and wasteful development under the thin guise of “eco-tourism”, tourist infrastructure development, and environmental ‘improvement’. Year after year, the builders and the developers push yet more projects…from remote islands and mountain-tops to beaches, lakes and tidal-flats.
To read the rest and see some photos of "eco-tourism" visit http://www.birdskorea.org/paved.asp ¶ 9:12 오후
