Douglas Tompkins, a successful
businessman, founded Esprit and The North Face, two clothing lines. His
wife made her fortune thanks to a popular clothing line in Patagonia.
Both having deep roots in the outdoor clothing and equipment, and because
they felt guilty by of buying useless things with all their generated profits,
they decided to invest their money to protect biodiversity. Thus in the 1990’s
they purchased thousands of hectares in Patagonia cutting Chile by half and
giving rise to the Pumalín Park.
The
However, the ecological
philanthropy of the couple has aroused controversy. Pumalín Park is indeed
dividing public opinion between those in favour of a radical protection of the
environment and those supporting the local economic growth and development.
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Pumalín National Park |
The Tompkins’ project is to
create a life reserve for the planet and not a tank of natural resources that
the country could use to encourage its growth. Transportation between the north
and south of the park is greatly constrained for the general public to a single
ferry route, which is leading local government authorities and the general
public to request a road system connecting north and south along with power
generating hydroelectric wires. The local population views Tompkins’ reserve
and ecological worries as a brake on growth and development.
Many voices have been rising against
Tompkins who is seen as taking profit of a poor country, just as Benetton
brothers or Ted Turner did in the past years. After all Tompkins used to be a
capitalist boasting the three top competing companies for outdoor enthusiasts.
In spite of his promises to
turn over his natural reserves to government authorities as soon as it will be
sustainable, Tompkins is still seen as a “gringo cabrón” – a bloody foreigner.
This is not the first occurrence of
private or commercial efforts to protect Mother Nature. While the efforts
which are more or less moral present major contradictions to essential growth
of the local population, the number of protected areas increases, especially in
developing countries and above all in Africa. For instance, in many African countries, local populations are forbidden
to hunt, practice cultural rituals or even walk through the lands which are the
only place they have lived for thousands of years.
Nowadays, it is easy for
developed countries to worry about environmental impact after much of the northern
hemisphere improved through the industrial revolution and thereafter urban
explosions of those last two centuries. On the contrary is it ethical to
stop the developing countries which are in great need of using their own land to
reach and sustain economic growth?
If all the developing
countries were to utilize as much fossil energies, lands and inconsideration
for nature, it would be a disaster, and maybe sooner than we think. However
everything is about means and measures, and exploiting the population, their
own land and their own resources is above the limits of human consideration,
even more when no real substantial efforts are made on the territories of
developed countries.
Tom Clancy, a world renowned
fiction writer, illustrates in his ever-popular novel Rainbow Six what dangers are generated by putting the environment
and animals above human being.
Leonardo da Vinci once said:
"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of
animals as they now look upon the murder of men”. It is sad that the
current human populations of this planet have to wake up to the harsh reality
of how right he was. Let’s just hope that looking at the murder of animals will
never make us blind to the murder of men.
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