http://www.bangkokpost.com/mail/24249/climate-change-and-tourism-under-scrutiny
TRAVEL MONITOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND TOURISM UNDER SCRUTINY Published: 21/09/2009 at 12:00 AM Newspaper section: Business Travel and tourism watchdog groups are mobilising to be heard at the last two rounds of the upcoming climate change conferences in Bangkok and Copenhagen. The effort is being spearheaded by two church-backed groups, the Chiang Mai-based Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (Ecot) and the German-based Tourism Watch which will be co-ordinating a series of side events during the first round of UN talks in Bangkok from Sept 27 to Oct 9. Ecot plans a workshop on "Climate Justice and Tourism" on Oct 2, aimed at raising awareness about the link between tourism and climate change and the impact on grassroots communities. The conclusions will be presented at a broader event on Oct 3 to produce a "People's Protocol on Climate Change". On Oct 4, Ecot will convene a South Consultative meeting where experts on climate change and tourism will draft a paper to be presented at the final round of the climate change talks in Copenhagen in December. The basic policy positions of the tourism watchdog groups are outlined in a paper entitled "Climate Change, Tourism and Social Justice - Some Reflections from the South", written by Dr. T.T. Sreekumar, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and co-founder and honorary editor of the portal Kerala Tourism Watch. The paper argues that global and domestic tourism are deeply interlinked and pose serious threats to the livelihoods of local communities. They also have enormous impacts on carbon emissions and consequently on global warming. Says the paper: "In most discussions, the complicity of the national capital and conspicuous consumption of the new middle class does not get adequate attention although it is both politically and economically a significant phenomenon to reckon with. ... What is also less debated is the localised impact of climate changes, particularly how local communities will be affected and in the eventuality of erupting disasters, how they would be able to cope with ... social and economic reconstruction." Prof Sreekumar notes that tourism affects the lives of ordinary people in a multitude of ways. "The tourism industry initially attempted to create the self-image of a victim of climate change. Concerns were mostly regarding the likely threats that climate change held out to the sustainability of tourism destinations. "But subsequent research ... rightly highlighted the role of sending markets in [exacerbating] the negative impacts of tourism on climate change. The patterns of consumption at home and abroad by citizens and manufacturers in Northern countries have been under scrutiny by the developing world for their lion's share of contribution to CO2 emissions. "Trends such as increased air traffic from North to South, forced liberalisation of third-world economies for supporting conspicuous consumption of tourists by way of overexpanding luxury hotels, overcrowding of infrastructure facilities in tourism destinations and diversion of local resources for meeting demands of tourism industry have all [exacerbated conditions] in recent years. Although climate change affects everyone, Prof Sreekumar says "the injustice is quite apparent. Carbon emissions of the North are far higher per person than from the Global South. Unfortunately, the impact of Northern-induced climate change - due to 'luxury emissions' from global trade and tourism - is far more tangible and visible in the South." "While global tourism significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, through emissions from transport, accommodation and related activities, the solutions mooted by the industry have been inadequate and irresponsible." Prof Sreekumar says that although the tourism industry is excited by the emergence of China and India as major generators of travellers in future, the environmental aspect of this new mass movement has not been calculated. "Sustainable mobility in the newly emerging countries and markets is not an isolated issue. It is closely linked to the imposition of the neo-liberal development paradigm in developing countries that the tourism industry has been steadfastly clinging on." Imtiaz Muqbil is executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire, an e-mailed feature and analysis service focusing on the Asia-Pacific travel industry. Writer: IMTIAZ MUQBIL -- "[It is not] possible to distinguish between 'numerical' and 'nonnumerical' algorithms, as if numbers were somehow different from other kinds of precise information." - Donald Knuth --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
