TOURISM GOING CLIMATE NEUTRAL

The relationship between climate change issues and the tourism sector can best be understood in terms of:

Luigi Cabrini Director Sustainable Development, UNWTO will present the current stage of work on the Davos Declaration process in the build up to Copenhagen. The Davos process already contains the necessary mitigation and adaptation strategies that can be undertaken to minimize the negative aspects of climate change and move towards a carbon neutral economy. The Davos process asks tourism stakeholders to:

LINK: www.unwto.org/climate/index.php

UNEP presents its Green Economy Initiative in this section, www.unep.org/greeneconomy/ which with the focus on developing a tourism sector report for the Global Green New Deal. UNEP and the UNWTO also work closely together on the UN International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism – esa.un.org/marrakechprocess/tfsustourism.shtml – which recently produced a declaration in Marrakech this April on moving the sector towards sustainable consumption and production.

The discussion framework is formulated so that a business viewpoint can be heard, as delivered by the president of the WTTC.

Tourism & Travel in the Green Economy: An interview with Geoffrey Lipman UNWTO Assistant Secretary General:

Q "Geoffrey, the European Travel Commission and UNWTO Symposium on Tourism & Travel in the Green Economy, to take place in Gothenburg and sponsored by VisitSweden on September 14-15th, what is it about?"

A "This event is an important element of the Davos Declaration Process and the Copenhagen Seal the Deal Imperative – it’s even more
important as a small step in the strategic global transformation to a Green Economy"

Q "Please expand on that."

A "From the UN system to the OECD to the G20 – including pivotally China, India, Brazil and South Africa there is recognition of the imperative of – long term shift from fossil fuel to low cabon renewable energy – resource and biodiversity conservation – green consumption, production and accounting – inclusion of all countries on a fair and equitable basis, with technology, capacity building and financing support for the poorest – wide range of market and regulatory mechanisms to encourage efficiency and innovation – linkage of environment technology and information communication technology to enable and manage the shift."

Q "What is OECD?"

A "That’s the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD is an international organisation helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy…"

Q "While you used the word ‘imperative’, practically speaking, how long of a process will these ‘imperative’ issues take to address?"

A "We know this is a long term measured shift from now to 2050: we know it has to start fast with tough targets to stabilize the earths
temperature at reasonable levels: we know it will have different levels of intensity for different countries for social and developmental reasons and for trade and poverty coherence: we know if we start now the cost and the pain will be tough but bearable – and that cost and consequence will increase exponentially with every procrastination: and we know we have no
alternatives."

Q "Are there any regions or countries for which these ‘imperatives’ apply to more or less?"

A "All countries and regions are important in this evolution and some are pivotal – Europe and the US because they have such massive impacts today in carbon output and leadership potential: China, India and Brazil because of their dynamic economic emergence and their population impacts: Africa, much of South America and Island States because of their vulnerabilty and at the same time their green potential."

Symposium presenters:

The Symposium will invite a number of carbon offset funds into the climate change knowledge networking process. Participants will be able to offset their travel by choosing which carbon neutral scheme suits them. As an example, the Converging World (www.theconvergingworld.org), who manage Six Senses Spa carbon offset programme and also work with Bristol Airport and British Airways in the UK will have a stand in Gothenburg to show in very practical terms how the business model of tourism in the green economy can contribute towards sustainable development.