Risking the rainforest

When it was first floated, the idea of a cable car gliding silently through the rain forest had sounded like such a great project.

Not only would it have placed the small town of Hamilton on the map, it would inject much needed tourism dollars into the local rural community - one struggling to remain viable and relevant amid the growing drought. Even the local council had been quick to jump on board, with the mayor coming out in support of the project and suggesting that local zoning regulations would be reviewed in order to accommodate the exciting development.

As the Hamilton Small Business Association gathered for the first formal meeting since floating the idea, their president Liam called for calm and some rational thinking. While welcoming everyone's enthusiasm and offers of help with the project, he indicated that they still had a long way to go to get the development approved, let alone built, staffed and fully operational (not to mention the ongoing and costly maintenance of the facility).

While Liam went to great lengths to reaffirm the need for the project and the substantial economic benefits it could deliver, he also flagged the potential environmental, political and cultural issues that were likely to appear on the project radar in the near future. Liam believed that, given the sensitive nature of the project, opening up a pristine rainforest to thousands of tourists and their vehicles was not going to be as easy as most people had said. Liam went on to say that the different interest groups that would most likely descend on the town once word got out would probably have a dramatic and public impact on the project's future. He proposed that this would need to be managed with skilled diplomacy, tempered caution and constructive debate. Liam suggested the group focus for a while on trying to identify exactly where the project had exposure on any number of fronts as their first step in dealing with this. Then, they could move on to trying to figure out some different strategies to help the town deal with these risks.

As he stood back and let the group make a start, Liam wondered how many times he and the local residents will be having this identical meeting as the project got legs.