The Beginning of the End???

[matts1w]

I have been meaning to post this for a while. This recently showed up in my neighborhood in Jakarta. At first I wasn't sure exactly what a Raja Ampat Seaforest actually is, but it seemed a weird name for a new restaurant. Turns out it is a company selling preconstruction investments in a new "luxury eco-resort." You can learn more here: Mantacove » Resort Ownership Investment

Anyway, better get to R4 while the getting is still good. There is already an airport ready to go near Kri. Untouched and pristine are words already under fire with the huge number of boats in the area.

Or I could be wrong; I hope I am.

 

[divad]

Maybe you were just part of the vanguard...

 

[Indah]

Tourism can either be the life saver or the destroyer of the environment. Without dive-tourism Raja Ampat probably would have been one big mining area. Have a look by Google Earth at Gebe and Gak to see what I mean. I am afraid that only more income from tourism and not less, can save Raja Ampat, North Sulawesi, Halmahera, Morotai and other places. Simply because the alternatives are worse. The dive community and dive industry can contribute to an environmental friendly tourism. Divers can be more critical where to book their next holiday. It is really funny if a resort writes on their web site: eco friendly, everything is build from natural materials. Does the resort compensate for every piece of wood they use? Where is the wood coming from? Ask them before you confirm your booking. And divers should continiously try to improve their dive skills. Forget about a camera if your bouyancy control is not perfect yet. Do not try to make "THE" picture "at all costs".

 

[Wingy]

And then theres the mining leases...R4 is not exempt https://www.facebook.com/territoria...9126828216407/652736334855454/?type=1&theater

 

[matts1w]

Tourism can either be the life saver or the destroyer of the environment. Without dive-tourism Raja Ampat probably would have been one big mining area. Have a look by Google Earth at Gebe and Gak to see what I mean. I am afraid that only more income from tourism and not less, can save Raja Ampat, North Sulawesi, Halmahera, Morotai and other places. Simply because the alternatives are worse. The dive community and dive industry can contribute to an environmental friendly tourism. Divers can be more critical where to book their next holiday. It is really funny if a resort writes on their web site: eco friendly, everything is build from natural materials. Does the resort compensate for every piece of wood they use? Where is the wood coming from? Ask them before you confirm your booking. And divers should continiously try to improve their dive skills. Forget about a camera if your bouyancy control is not perfect yet. Do not try to make "THE" picture "at all costs".

All good points, Indah. I just don't think $5000 US per week "Eco Resorts" sold as timeshares are probably going to be an asset to the area.

 

[gekodivebali]

Yup, it's always the same story. Destroy an island, then go East... Not sure there's many more to go East of Raja Ampat!

If only there was some proper planning and protection in these parts.

 

[Immeriswas]

I don`t think so. If you have a closer look into this project with 30 luxury bungalows, which reminds me a bit of the 5 star resorts on the maledives, then first you could have some doubts about the realisation at all and if then the impact to the underwaterworld will not be more than from a bigger liveaboard. Why ? Because the people choosing this kind of vacation are mostly not the hard core 4 dives a day diver, which you often have on a liveaboard. From my severeral trips to the maledives over the last 15 years, where it was ever more difficult to find a 3 star resort due to the permanent upgrading of the islands, I noticed that the amount and intensity of diving rather drops as more stars a resort got. So there is a lot credit to Indahs reply. Tourism is the best thing for that area to bring in some work and money, rather than mining. One thing I would like to mention in aspect of eco tourism : If you fly than please use an CO2 compensation program like ATMOSFAIR or MYCLIMATE . The impact we all have with flying in and out to RA or other dive locations from quite a distance is mostly more than driving your car for the whole year. So rather than being worried about how they built a new resort - in the case from Mantacove it obviously can´t be done only from driftwood and local stuff -everyone of us could help the environment by doing the secondbest thing to not flying at all : COMPENSATE !! And the cost of arround 10 euro per hour you fly should be worth it compared to the amount of money you spent for the holyday in total.

here are the links to the programs

Private clients
https://www.atmosfair.de/

 

[jamesdiving]

I think the issue is not that this high end resort will destroy the area because loads of divers will damage the reef, it's more that once the genie is out of the bottle and non-diving tourism takes off in RA, the currently pristine environment will quickly be turned into Patong or Kuta by rapid growth of massive resorts.