In the rugged terrain and remote eastern region of Libya, the Greek ruins of Cyrene are going to be turned into a carbon-neutral zone catering to tourism. The recently announced Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area project made it come alive with fresh signs and development coming in.

The brainchild of the Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, eldest son of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, a group of wealthy Libyans and some consultants, the project will protect Libya’s Greek and Roman ruins from haphazard developments, and also the coastal ecosystem, one of the last remaining natural areas of the Mediterranean. The waters off Libya are the last remaining breeding grounds for a number of Mediterranean species.

Mahmoud A. Khosman, project’s financial advisor, said that the idea to tell the world was that as Libya opens its doors to the world, it is unlike the Spanish coast and the project is also good investment.
At a news conference, Mr. Qaddafi referred to this as ‘time now to join developed countries. So we make this statement about the environment, about culture. We are civilized’.

The inaugural function had friends, royalty, British peers, experts on waste recycling and sustainable farming, architects, engineers and hoteliers. There was music piped in from the Temple of Zeus at sunset.
But there is widespread skepticism about the project ever coming out of paper.