Easter Island: Tourism threatens to trigger another ecological collapse

The Economist:

…Today Easter Island once again faces environmental threats. Food comes from Chile, either by ship or on the seven weekly flights from Santiago (there are also two from Tahiti). The visitors “all pull the chain,” Luz Zasso, the mayoress, notes acidly. The absence of a sewage system is threatening the cleanliness of the island’s underground water sources. But it would be hard to install one without damaging archaeological sites. Electricity comes from diesel-powered generators. Power cuts are frequent. Rubbish is piling up.

Many Easter Islanders are worried. Tourists should be limited to 50,000 a year and be preferably well-heeled, argues Marcelo Pont, the vice-president of the Council of Elders, an advisory body. Visitors from the Chilean mainland attract particular resentment. “They’re interested in sun, sand and swimming pools, not the island,” says Edgard Herevi of the local chamber of tourism. Tourism has brought migrants from the mainland, too. The population is now 5,000, up from 3,300 in 2002, of whom only half are now of Rapa Nui descent. Locals complain that the incomers are competing in the handicrafts trade, carving wooden moai and selling shell necklaces…

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