Bangladesh, Oct. 11 -- We have a weird way of loving nature in Bangladesh. We admire a forest as long as we can put a resort beside it.

We celebrate a river as long as there is a restaurant overlooking it. We call a place 'eco' as soon as bamboo and thatch appear on the outside of a concrete building.

Somewhere between appreciating nature and selling an experience of nature, we have forgotten a basic distinction: not everything beautiful needs to become a business.

The growing resort industry around the Sundarbans should therefore worry us for a reason larger than the number of buildings being constructed. The real danger is the gradual conversion of wilderness into a consumer product.

Once a forest becomes a tourism brand, every par...