Sensible Policy Next Door?

This article in the NY Times today talks about Libya's possible tourism development. What I found the most interesting was this:

The Libyan coast is “a unique and important and untouched ecosystem, almost the only one left in the Mediterranean — it’s like Sardegna 50 years ago before development,” said Alessandra Pome of the World Wildlife Foundation Fund for Nature, who is working in Tripoli.

Ms. Pome noted that the area was the last breeding ground for some species of turtles and tuna in the Mediterranean. “If we carelessly develop the coast here as we did in Spain, Italy and France,” she said, “the Mediterranean is going to turn into a swimming pool lined with concrete.”

This type of Mediterranean development is quite visible in parts of Tunisia. Native coral has been ravaged, drinking water on the island of Djerba has significantly decreased in quality due to tourist consumption, and one only has to step into the neon spectacle that is the resort of Hammamet to understand how banal and dangerous seaside development can be. While I'm just pulling these examples out for illustrative purposes, there are many more and less tangible losses, such as the Disney-fication that accompanies large commercial development.

I hope this won't be the same for Libya. While the Libyans are basically the equivalent of the Belgians to the French for the Tunisians - what makes it especially ridiculous is the way that Tunisians tell Libyan jokes as if they really happened - it looks like there's a potential to do development right on the North Coast of Africa for once. Plus, who wants the Mediterranean turned into a giant, homogeneous swimming pool?