Is tourism ruining the world?

British Columbia's Inside Passage doesn't seem, on first glance, to belong in the same company as the Honduran island of Roatan and the Aysen region of southern Chile, yet they're all included in a new book titled Disappearing Destinations (Vintage).

The book -- subtitled 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them -- focuses on areas that are being "irretrievably altered by climate change, environmental degradation, overuse and natural causes."

The problems in the Inside Passage relate to regulations on what cruise ships can dump in offshore waters.

"Alaska's (rules) are some of the most stringent in the world ... (while) Canada's pale in comparison," write authors Kimberly Lisagor and Heather Hansen.

"Because of the lack of enforcement, it is impossible to measure the amount of waste that cruise ships deposit along Canada's beautiful coastline."

Discharges could harm marine plants, fish, shellfish and animals higher up the food chain.

At Roatan, reefs have been damaged by fishing, poaching and tourism. In the Aysen region of Patagonia, a planned hydro electric project could dramatically alter the area's ecology.

Banks Island, N.W.T., Churchill, Man., and Nunavut are all being affected by climate change, say the authors.

Other 'disappearing destinations' include the Amazon basin; Machu Picchu, Peru; Venice, Italy; Canary Islands, Spain; Maasailand, Kenya; Timbuktu, Mali; Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Everest National Park, Nepal; and the Everglades, Florida. 'Disappearing Destinations' is published by Vintage.