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Princess Zahra Aga Khan: "Save the Sea of Sardinia"
The daughter of the founder of Costa Smeralda: "Let's make it a park"

Zahra Aga Khan was born in Geneva in 1970. She studied at Harvard and now heads the Social Development Department of the Aga Khan Development Network

Posted on 07/08/2017

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Sent to porto cervo (olbia)

As long as the phone rings, it looks like a meeting between friends: at sunset, at the end of a hot day of the sea. Smiles, laughs and even a few jumps. Then, suddenly, here's the unexpected call, the one that brings everything to a different plane. "Your height waits for fifteen minutes, we must be timely." We would all just call him Daddy, and maybe we would have confessed to being loudly late, but Zahra's father is a true prince. And she is that princess you do not expect: a friendly look and unhappy sweetness, beachwear, perfect tanning, and some suffering in the face of the reverence of collaborators and secretaries. The father, on this island, is one who has really changed the story, is the man who has transformed a virgin country slice into the international tourism paradise. He imagined the five-star holiday where there were only pastures and Mediterranean scrub and he succeeded in a miracle that he probably did not expect so. She studied at Harvard and filmed the world, but grew up here, in the old Mola Mountains sung by De Andrè. Where young Karim Aga Khan has designed hotels, roads, an airport and an airline and where Karim with white hair has decided to sell everything (or almost), abandoning the dream of expanding and making his jewel even more beautiful.

Zhara has become great along with the Costa Smeralda and now browse pages of memories. He does not do it, even if he does not run the risk of being betrayed by emotion. "These beaches, when I was little, were covered by thousands of white lilies: there were a lot of them, everywhere they were gone. On the shore, near the sea, they graze cows. "

What do you still see in Sardinia today?

"Little or nothing. It's really all changed. Even the sea is no longer that of a time. Color is another. Today I was close to the spreader beach and I have seen a very different place from what I remembered. "

In short, is not it true that the island has remained unspoiled oasis?

"No one is offended, but many years of little respect to the sea left traces here too. And then the island is not bad for the effects of climate change. The color of the water shows it. "

So the daughter of Costa Smeralda's creator dreams of Sardinia as a big park?

"Managing a park does not mean to ban everything. In the world there are models of natural parks that work very well. It would be time for Sardinia to think of copying one of those models, with a real environmental protection plan. With real management. You do not have to make a total park, the sea does not live like this. An example? For 30 years, in areas where they really keep the environment, booms have been placed in all the ditches, preventing boats from approaching and devastating the backdrops. Why is nothing done here? "
If it is true that this is no longer naturalistic treasure, how has it been compromised?

"The main problem is non-management. Last year I spoke with an employee of La Maddalena National Park charged with charging the mooring fee among boat owners. I asked her how to use those resources and told me she did not know anything about it. So? This shows us that there are no ideas. "

How is your commitment to the environment born? Why is the Yacht Club becoming the paladin of nature?

"Many members are aware of the planet's change. There is a clear change: yesterday in Cagliari there were 51 degrees and in Dubai last week were 55. We all know that we are facing a process of continuous degradation. Maybe we can do something. Of course, our club will not be able to stop such a big phenomenon. However, we want to involve the other clubs and send a signal to governments, who sign agreements for the environment and then do nothing concrete. We, of course, do not want to make the ostriches. "

But just nautical is often on the bench of the defendants: under process for the little respect for the sea. Can not it seem a contradiction?

"Sports boating has no impact on the sea, at least those kind of boats we use. And from here we want to start to launch our message: the dream is to conquer the sea people with our desire to save the planet. "