Ecotourism project could damage national park An ecological & spiritual tourism development project in Bach Ma could damage the national park, experts say.    A cable car system in national park? Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, a US-based architecture firm, has made the third presentation about the master plan to develop an ecological and spiritual tourism complex in the Bach Ma National Park. Nguyen Hoang Tri, chair and secretary general of MAB Vietnam (Man and the Biosphere Program), warned that the presence of a tourism complex in the middle of a national park would disrupt the flora and fauna biodiversity corridor which has formed after millions of years.  An ecological & spiritual tourism development project in Bach Ma could damage the national park According to Tri, Bach Ma is a park with high biodiversity. There are two natural reserves in the two parts of Bach Ma – one in the north, belonging to Thua Thien-Hue province, and another in the south, belonging to Quang Nam province, which gather many rare and precious plant and animal species. If touching Bach Ma, the biodiversity corridor will be affected. Besides, the construction of houses, French style villas and 5-6 tourism villages in Bach ma is feared to badly affect the plants, while the use of cement, steel and the existence of cable car will disrupt the plants’ and animals’ habitat. “If developing tourism there, hundreds and thousands of people will visit there and they will frighten animals which will never come back,” Tri said. Agreeing with Tri, Vu Quang Con, former head of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources said: “I support ecotourism. But it’s better to be cautious with tourism with spiritual elements. And I totally oppose resort projects in national parks.” “Spiritual factors will make people inclined to the good, therefore, people will protect the nature. There would be no problem if people have sincerity and make contribution to conservation,” he said. “People would have to walk to the places of worship and enjoy landscapes,” he said in opposition to the cable car. The professor went on to warn that the initial benefits the investors may get in the first development period may be relatively big, but after 5-10 years, the would be nothing left for people to enjoy, if natural resources cannot be protected. The idle promise Experts do not believe the investor's promise that they would compensate for the natural resources they take away. “You said you ravage one hectare of Bach Ma’s forest and you will plant one hectare of forest as compensation? This is quite the wrong thinking,” Tri said. The expert explained that one must not compare one hectare of Bach Ma’s forest with one hectare of planted forest. Dat Viet