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Porritt predicts environmental disaster
The Mediterranean beach holiday will be finished by 2030 and European skiing is in terminal decline, claimed leading environmentalist Jonathon Porritt.
Porritt, the founder of ‘Forum for the Future’ and former director of Friends of Earth, told the ABTA Travel Convention in Tenerife that everyone needed to take action to prevent a worldwide disaster.
He forecast that people would not be able to holiday in the Mediterranean in future because rising temperatures would make it too uncomfortable. He added that 30 per cent of coral reefs were already badly damaged.
The main problem, said Porritt, was the huge growth in population.
“In 1950 we had a global population of three billion, in 2000 of six billion and by 2050 it will be nine billion. In 100 years, we’ve added six billion people,” he said.
“We have grown massively, but the earth’s resources have not.”
Porritt said people were irresponsible on holiday, claiming the average tourist in Spain used 880 litres of water a day, compared 250 litres used by a city dweller.
A survey of 97,000 school leavers, dubbed ‘future leaders’ by Porritt, revealed that 67 per cent of them see travelling overseas as a priority.
“Tourism is critical, it provides one in 12 jobs globally,” said Porritt. “You can’t have a successful world without tourism, but often the benefits of tourism do not filter through to the right people.”
Poritt said businesses needed a carbon management programme and backed offsetting. He urged everyone to support The Travel Foundation, which he said did excellent work.
by Jeremy Skidmore
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