Calls mount to stop resort near thriving Mexican reef
Calls mount to stop resort near thriving Mexican reef
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 2:36p.m.
By Mark Stevenson
One of Mexico's most successful environmental rescue projects, a newly thriving coral reef, is under threat from a Cancun-sized mega-development planned for the Baja California Peninsula, activists said as they staged a protest to put pressure on the Spanish developer.
The project would transform the village of Cabo Pulmo from a sleepy clutch of bungalows and small homes into a development with the equivalent of about 30,000 hotel rooms, golf courses and a marina on a strip of seaside desert about a 90-minute drive northeast of the Los Cabos resorts.
Environmentalists fear that pollution, vacation activities and sediment from construction and dredging could damage the coral in a national marine preserve that had achieved rare success in restoring sea life. They say thousands of homes would have to be built for resort employees in an area where water is scarce.
The World Wildlife Fund brought schoolchildren bearing the flags of 70 countries on Thursday to present almost 13,000 signatures from around the world asking President Felipe Calderon to cancel permits, now held by a regional Spanish bank, for construction at the site.
More:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Calls-mount-to-stop-resort-near-thriving-Mexican-reef/tabid/1160/articleID/244931/Default.aspx#ixzz1nvM86JsR
