A developer purchasing land does not have the right to make a lot of money out of it. It is a gamble which may work out in his or her favor or not.

Forested land is generally cheap to buy as it offers limited ways of making a return from it. It belongs to wildlife and is often protected by different levels of environmental legislation.

Even regrowth as written in a local papers letter ‘is the rebirth of biodiversity and opportunity to right a wrong’.

Kuranda region is an ecologically rich and sensitive area, unsuitable for much more development.

That applies to much of the Barnwell property which Ken Lee now wants to turn into KUR-World.

The idea we can squeeze in extra development of this type and call it sustainable development is a myth. Our understanding of sustainability has deviated much from true sustainability and the term is often misused to justify development.

The time I saw real sustainability was many years ago when I stayed with the nomadic Penans in Borneo or Mentawais in Sumatra. Their settlements were constructed with all natural materials sourced from their immediate surroundings. Their means of transport was walking or by dugout. They did not drive to work or buy things in shops and hardly wore any clothes. Very few things entered or left their system.

Development and growth as we know it was not part of their system. Their way of life had struck a perfect balance sustaining a small population with no lasting negative impact on the environment as time had told.

After all, surely sustainable development means development that could continue ad infinitum without threatening the biodiversity of a region.

KUR-World, rather than illustrating this, appears to be an example of a project that would rapidly destroy a fragile ecosystem and has, indeed, already started this process.