there goes the environment..

I had just read a news article - perhaps yesterday or today, I can't quite remember - that the Sultanate of Oman government has just signed a number of deals to build new eco-tourism resorts at various regions in the country.

Many, of which, include the Dhofar region, the Batinah region and Ras Al-Hadd. Most of these resorts will include several 4 and 5 star hotels, a marina in Ras Al-Hadd (??), and some bed & breakfast joints at Dhofar and along the Batinah eco-tourist line. Also in the planning is a number of 21 castles and forts to be refurbished with several Omani cultural themes that would be used later as live meuseams for tourists.

What I can't believe is that the government, who supposedly believes very strongly in mantaining and preserving the Omani wildlife would allow such large resorts to be built at places where an endangered species lives at such as the turtles that come in to lay their eggs at the beach in Ras Al-Hadd or the natural surroundings in Dhofar.

Or is it because we're running so fast out of oil money that we might as well forget about the natural habitats because they won't exist for long?

What is the role then of the Environment Society Oman in this situation? Don't they have a say in what's going on with the manipulation of the Omani natural environment?

It is in my opinion, that we are heading fast towards competing with other neighboring countries in establishing Oman as a brand name in the tourism category. And this nonesence about eco-tourism won't last for long because there will be a time when we will - sooner or later - open up in the name of mass tourism and by then everything that ever mattered to this lovely beloved cultural environmental and relegious habitat would have gone past the extinct mark.

God help us all..