Sustainable Tourism and Global Development Agendas. Stefanos Fotiou United Nations Environment Programme

Transcription

1 Sustainable Tourism and Global Development Agendas Stefanos Fotiou United Nations Environment Programme

2 Sustainable Tourism Development Economic efficiency Environmental protection Preservation and promotion of social and cultural values

3 What is happening today Sustainability and the tourism value chain: Complex and unclear relations. Industry dominated by SMEs; sustainable is costly Fragmented responsibilities of the public authorities Consumers that they don t care

4 What is happening today Main negative impacts of tourism Degradation of ecosystems Depletion of natural resources Degradation of landscape Economic leakages Degradation of societal identities

5 What we would like to happen Ability of tourism to continue as an activity in the future, ensuring that the conditions are right for this Ability of society and environment to absorb and benefit from the impacts of tourism in a sustainable way Minimise negative impacts on environment, society and local economies Maximising tourism s positive and creative contribution to local economies, the natural end cultural heritage and the quality of life of hosts and visitors

6 Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns Consumption of resources Production of resources Transportation Land use Water use Use of energy Wastes Nature conservation Development Employment Local income Production of tourism services Consumption of tourism services

7 The main argument The sustainability of tourism development is depended mainly (but not only) on patterns of: Consumption of resources (natural, social, cultural, economic ); Consumption (use) of tourism products and services Consumption oriented problems to be addressed with production based solutions

8 UNEP Tourism Strategy Support sustainable forms of economically efficient tourism development, while safeguarding the environment and promote social progress

9 The objectives Support the integration of sustainability in tourism development policies. Promote sustainable production and consumption patterns in the tourism industry. Encourage demand for sustainable tourism services.

10 The intervention areas Demonstrate the value that sustainability can add to the tourism value chain. Improve the knowledge base of the tourism stakeholders. Enable and promote innovation throughout the tourism industry.

11 Our work Improve knowledge/capacity Demonstrate the added value Promote innovation Tourism dev. policies Workshops; publications; seminars in tourism destinations STTF Sustainable tourism and ICZM Planning instruments for sustainable tourism in SIDS Promote SCP patterns STTF Project: Publication for the hoteliers schools UNEP_UNDP: Environmental principles of GC in the tourism sector WTF 2006 Workshop on Innovation for sustainable tourism Encourage demand for ST STTF Project: Campaign for sustainable travel

12 Some critical issues Community tourism development; participatory planning of tourism Projects in developing and less developed countries Focus on emerging destinations Tourism and biodiversity Adaptation to Climate Change The UN Marrakech Process

13 Sustainable tourism policies and economic efficiency Decrease the cost of handling the impacts To increase profits Conserve the assets of the tourism development To assure future profits Diversify the tourism products and thus target new markets To generate new profits

14 The workshop themes National and regional policies Sustainable tourism and nature conservation Instruments