Control access to save nature - Visitor numbers now a threat
Canadian Naomi Klein describes capitalism as a war on nature. That irrefutable assertion might not be acclaimed at a Davros cocktail party, even if some of those present recognise its core truth.
As tourism is a strand of capitalism, it is also indicted by Klein in a way that, unexpectedly, connects Davros to Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain.
To protect the mountain, the MacGillycuddy Reeks Mountain Access Forum is to limit access. Over the last 15 years, visits to Irish mountains have jumped 14-fold, from 168,000 to 2.35m in 2017. Last year, 125,000 hill-walkers used one of the three access points to Carrauntoohil to visit that beautiful, but threatened place. Like it or not, that tsunami is unsustainably dangerous to that environment and the local farming community.
Unsurprisingly, Keep Ireland Open has described the new rules as a “draconian regime”.
Last week, in his first statement on climate, the new Minister for Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton, warned that if we are to respond adequately to climate change, it will require “a revolution in how we live”.
Maybe, as part of that revolution, we may have to accept the idea of rationed access to some locations, because it is all too obvious that uncontrolled human activity always, ultimately degrades habitats and environments we celebrate by visiting relentlessly.
And, as our populations grow, that argument becomes stronger and more pressing by the day.
