Ecological Paradise Being Destroyed Greed

Hotel and resort owners have been dumping sewage into the ocean for years despite warning from environmentalists. These businesses claim it is too expensive to install septic tanks and waste water treatment facilities despite obvious record profits. No environmental impact statements have been required nor has the government taken an interest in enforcing the laws dealing with all new construction projects. We need to inform our representatives in the assemblea that this kind of lawlessness will not be tolerated and will destroy Costa Rica's tourism industry if action is not taken promptly!

clipped from www.iol.co.za By John McPhaul San Jose, Costa Rica - A tropical algae thriving on fertilisers from hotel golf courses and badly treated sewage is killing one of Costa Rica's most important coastal reefs, scientists say. A tourism and construction boom along the palm tree-lined beaches is creating nitrogen- and phosphate-rich waste that feeds the algae, known as Caulerpa sertularioides, and Costa Rica is only just becoming aware of the problem. The algae is the latest challenge facing Costa Rican authorities as the Central American country struggles with conserving its unique tropical biodiversity while attracting tourists and marketing itself as an ecotourism paradise.