Unsustainable Tourism Investment in Yap!

April 10th, 2013 

Yap’s cultural and environmental heritage is in jeopardy as a result of plans for massive and unsustainable tourism investment, taking the form of golf courses, resorts and casinos. 

Yap Islands (c) scubaguam.com

The State of Yap is a group of tiny islands in the Western Pacific with a population of only 11,000; this beautiful region within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) still retains strong culture and traditions across its 142 islands and atolls.  However, a construction company is trying to build a Casino Resort of 4,000 double-bed hotel rooms that is of vastly disproportionate magnitude to the local community. If this project goes ahead it will cause permanent changes to the Yapese communities as well the surrounding terrestrial and marine environments, unbalancing ecosystems and degrading natural and local heritage. Furthermore, this development company (The Exhibit and Travel Group (ETG) – a private Chinese entity) will keep most generated capital and jobs in house, so the Yapese community as a whole will not benefit financially from this development.

When you consider that the location of the proposed casino on the main island of Yap itself is home to just 7,200 people, full occupancy would double the population in the surrounding area. This does not include the people brought over from China to work.

Throughout Micronesia the recent increasing presence of the Chinese, through development projects such as these and fishing contracts, has also opened the door to increased illegal fishing practices (for shark fins and manta ray gill plates), synonymous with drug trade, both of which often camouflage themselves under established legal businesses. These more sinister illegal practices, coupled with these large scale tourism construction projects, do not have the best interests of the Yapese communities or their environment at heart and will only leave this island poorer economically and ecologically if allowed to continue.

“Concerned Citizens Group”, a non-profit organisation in Yap that consists of Yapese citizens has created a petition to garner support against this development.

Please read their petition and sign & share via Facebook and Twitter to help raise awareness of this issue.

If you would like to learn more about the research we conduct with the manta rays of Yap, you can visit our Federated States of Micronesia Manta Project page.