Taiwan tourists are destroying a piece of exactly what they travel to see on an outlying mid-Pacific islet known — at least at one time — for its abundant coral reefs.

A pair of Taiwan environmental groups that marshaled 56 people to check the coral supply near Orchid Island, which is southeast of Taiwan proper, for the first time since 2004 found that the sensitive but colourful marine species covered only 18 percent of the surrounding ocean floor, down from 65 percent, said the Taiwan Environmental Information Center .

The Taipei-based information centre and its research partner the Taiwan Association for Marine Environmental Education suspect that the aftermath of a long-lasting August typhoon may have caused parts of the reef to break apart.

But they’re more concerned about a long-term influx of overeager Taiwan tourists who visit the sparsely populated island for diving or snorkeling in its azure waters.  Humans are taking too much coral or other aquatic life out of the water, hurting the ecosystem, said information centre special projects manager Kung Lu.

“Tourists have been taking too much out of the ocean,” Kung said. “Some of them just don’t know.”

Green Island, a neighbouring islet off the same subtropical coast and arguably northeast Asia’s top diving spot, is fighting an epidemic of diseased coral  as tourist traffic surges to nearly 400,000 visits per year . Orchid had gotten off easier because it’s farther from Taiwan’s main island, with fewer flights and hotels.

Coral reefs, delicate undersea structures resembling rocky gardens made by tiny animals called coral polyps, are nurseries as well as shelters for fish and other sea life. It will take 50 to 100 years before Orchid Island’s coral grows back to even 40 percent of the offshore ocean floor, the information centre estimates.

Clashes in the Amazon between indigenous protestors and Peru’s army that killed some 60 people last week throw some old issues into sharp new relief: development versus the environment and local versus foreign control of natural resources.

Indigenous tribes, worried they will lose control over natural resources, have protested since April seeking to force Peru’s Congress to repeal new laws that encourage foreign mining and energy companies to invest billions of dollars in huge tracts of pristine rain forest.

In the developing world, extractive industries have a bad record of bringing benefits to local people. Prime examples include the oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria and mineral-rich South Africa under apartheid.

Equally bad is their record on the environment. The despoiled Niger Delta also springs immediately to mind (and it is probably no coincidence that it has also been wracked by conflict and insurgency).

The tensions in Peru also highlight the on-going debate about the environment versus development — especially when that development involves the planet’s dwindling rain forests.

A seven-year economic boom has failed to significantly reduce poverty in Peru, which is where about 36 percent of the population remains mired.

Developing countries such as Peru have long argued that the rich world reached its affluence in part by exploiting its own environment (and its colonies’) and natural resources and that they should be able to do the same.

But the world’s rain forests are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet, and left intact could still generate untold economic riches. They contain countless species which have not even been discovered or described by scientists. Some may hold the keys to medical or other scientific breakthroughs. They also have huge potential as ecotourist destinations (a sector that creates local jobs and encourages local investment).

Letting the rain forest stand can also play a big role in the struggle against climate change. Chopping down fewer trees and caring for the soil may be cheaper and more effective in fighting climate change than curbing emissions from coal plants, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday. Trees store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as they grow. You can see our story on the report here.

Tropical rain forests are shrinking almost everywhere they are found, from Borneo in Asia to west Africa to South America’s Amazon. Estimates for deforestation rates vary widely and some of the predictions from the 1980s for example have long since proven to be alarmist (one otherwise fine book from the mid-1980s, which has been many a student’s introduction to rainforest ecology, predicted at the time that ”there will be little left of this fascinating habitat by the end of the century.”) But there is no question that the world’s rain forests are in trouble — not least some would argue because they are found in tropical countries which tend to be poor.

Alternative paths to development also include a plan to pay tropical countries not to chop down trees — but an exclusive Reuters report last week revealed that the plan risks being discredited by opportunists even before it starts.

What do you think? Should Peru exploit its rain forest regions in a bid to attract badly needed foreign capital? Or should other paths to development be taken which can hopefully spare the rain forest from the axe?

(Photo: Native people hold sticks as they barricade the entrance to Yurimagua city, in a remote Amazon region of northern Peru, June 6, 2009. They are protesting the government’s drive to lure foreign energy and mining companies into the rain forest. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil/PERU)