Asean wages war on nature
The next Asean meeting is in Brunei in two weeks. The closest they'll come to talking about environmental issues is a mention of smoky air, because everything they talk about is money-related. More smoke equals turned-off tourists equals reduced revenue.
There’s no money to be made (in their view) from maintaining natural habitat or enabling wild species to survive. Perhaps if they could fathom what Western planners have already figured out – that a thriving natural environment is actually good for bringing in tourist dollars – then they might give habitat protection a glance. As it is, Southeast Asians are fighting a full-tilt war with nature, and nature is losing every battle.
Just in one small city here in northern Thailand, there are vast tracts of newly scraped land in every direction. Some rich Chinese-Thais are buying up large properties at a frenetic pace and, without exception, every square metre is being scraped of anything green – in preparation for endless rows of cement-block buildings stretching out to faraway hills. Next, the hills will be terraced and yet more thousands of concrete buildings will be crammed in there. Asean sees such things as economic improvements.
Ken Albertsen
Chiang Rai
