Read more: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal Hopes to Ward Off Oil with Fake Islands | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

 A facinating article in the new Spring/Summer issue of Private Islands Magazine reveals  how the business of selling private islands actually began. The article is particularly interesting because most island enthusiasts probably think that Farhad Vladi started the business. It turns out that Farhad Vladi gave up on trying to sell islands back in the 70s and it was his then partner Rene Bohm that persisted and ended up finding the first buyer, which sparked the creation of the island business.

I have read pretty much every article ever written about private islands, and many of them mention Farhad Vladi, but none of them mention Rene Bohm.

Read the Full Article

Floating Island in Maldives

A low lying island nation, the Maldives is at the front line in the fight against global warming. Already facing damage from rising sea levels, the Maldives is facing a grim future if action is not taken immediately.

Refusing to go gently into the good night, Maldives is fighting back with plans to build a series of man-made artificial islands.  Maldives government and Dutch Docklands/Dutch Watervalley recently signed an agreement to develop several floating facilities for the islands, including a convention center and golf courses.

Designed by architect Koen Olthuis or Waterstudio.NL, the renderings for the amphibious mini-cities appear depict star-shaped, tiered islands with indoor spaces hidden under lush green-roof terraces, complete with interior pools and beaches. While exact design details of these new floating islands are still unavailable, Dutch Docklands does have a history of creating water developments using methods and procedures that reduce impact on underwater life and minimize changes to coastal morphology.

The article notes that the central government must take over the islands to restore public access, noting that having no public access would make islands vulnerable to crime and make it easy to change ownership. Apparently public access is the priamry concern of critics of island ownership.

Although I am huge proponent of public access to private islands, corporate ownership brings, development, tourism and jobs to an island region and should be considered when these often outrageous foreign ownship laws are passed. Indonesia already has some of the tightest island ownership regulations in the world and further restrictions would only stagnate Indonesia Tourism.

To read the full article visit the Jakarta Post

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently recommended that Greece should sell of some of its state assets, including some of it’s private islands. According to reports, Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and Frank Schaeffler, an MP for the Free Democrats - the junior partner in the centre-right coalition  - apparently told Germany’s Bild daily that the Greek government should consider selling stakes in all its assets to raise more cash.

The BBC says that “dotted in the blue waters of the Aegean are some of the country’s most valuable assets - about 6000 islands, of which only 227 are inhabited”. Some sources say that your own private island could cost as little as 1.5 million euro.

Chris Krolow of Private Islands Online, in a statement did note that more Greek Islands will be coming on the market over the next few months, but would not confirm whether or not these properties would be listed by the Greek Government.

If the economic crisis continues in Greece this could present a rare opportunity to purchase a prstine Greek Island, something that rarely comes on the market.

Source: BBC

Did private islands kill a prominent CEO?

The recent world economic problems have had the unfortunate side-effect of increasing suicides due to business failures and bankruptcies. Sadly, Steven Good, CEO of Chicago-based auction house Sheldon Good, joined those ranks earlier this year. While the reasons for his death are truly known only to him, a failure of a highly publicized private auction and ensuing lawsuits by clients may have played some role – an auction he may have been mislead into holding by a man named Cheyenne Morrison, who at the time claimed to be “The world’s biggest island broker”. However, it appears that Mr. Morrison was not all he made himself out to be – and that his deception may have had devastating consequences for the auction.

UPDATE: Since the private island auction, it has been confirmed that Cheyenne Morrison has been fired from his home-based sales job at Coldwell Banker, and no longer markets himself as a “private island broker”.

UPDATE #2: The original article that brought to light Cheyenne Morrison’s possible involvement in this tragedy has been removed by request of the author.

Stanford, owned Guiana Island A 1,500 acre island that has emerged as the heart of his elaborate dealings. Antigua and Barbuda’s government obtained approval last week to seize 250 acres of the island following the charges against Stanford in February.

An official stated “Our main aim is to make sure that the lands are returned to Antigua,”  Apparently this move is in response to massive outstanding debt to local suppliers owned by the Stanford Group.

To read more visit Reuters.uk. I think this is a cautionary tale for potential island owners. Although an island may feel like “your own kingdom” it is still subject to the laws of the nation to which it belongs.

Tourism Queensland is working hard to promote their region as a top tourist destination, and I must say they are doing a fantastic job. First they came out with an island caretaker position, where the proud winner gets to live on a beautiful island for 6-months and recieves $150,000 at the end of their term (READ: Island Caretaker). Now Tourism Queensland has come out with a beautiful new video called the Islands of the  Great Barrier Reef.

While President elect Barack Obama is vacationing in Hawaii, his second in command Joe Biden visited the U.S. Virgin Islands with his family for a brief vacation. A government spokesman says Gov. John deJongh greeted Biden at the airport.

Jean Greaux said Saturday that Biden is “here for a couple of days of rest and relaxation.” The St. John Source newspaper reported that Biden is staying at a private house on Water Island which is a 500 acre island with only 161 residents. The island remains largely un-commercialized and is maintained by members of the Water Island Civic Association and residents along with intermittent assistance from the Virgin Islands’ government..

One of the Channel Islands, Sark is a British Crown Dependency and has a population of just 600. Sark’s main industries are finance, industry and tourism, however, what has made the island famous is that until just this year it was the last feudal state in Europe.

Sark has been inhabited for well over 2000 years and during its time has been occupied by the Romans, French, Germans and of course the British. In 1990 an unemployed French nuclear physicist named André Gardes attempted a singlehanded invasion of Sark, armed with a semi-automatic weapon. He put up signs declaring his intention to take over the island the following day at noon. He was arrested while sitting on a bench, changing the gun’s magazine and waiting for noon to arrive, by the island’s volunteer Constable.

For more information on this interesting state visit Wikipedia, where they have an excellent article.