MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sustainable tourism to contain climate change, warns UN

UNWTO Francesco Frangialli support aviation fuel tax

United Nations World Tourism Organisation secretary-general Francesco Frangialli issued his strongest warning yet of the threat to the industry. ”A rise in global temperatures beyond 2C will threaten the existence of our industry.

A 2C rise this century is now the minimum forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change even with a 60% cut in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Speaking at the Ministers' Summit on Tourism and Climate Change Frangialli said: "Our industry must refuse to take the easy way out. We cannot delay and should not try to sidestep the issue by saying our contribution is relatively small". Frangialli hit out at airlines hostile to the principle of emissions trading and opposed to European plans to include aviation in a trading scheme from 2011. He warned the industry will have to make sacrifices. "Tourism must make bigger changes than other sectors because we have to reduce emissions when the number of travellers is doubling" he said. "We have a right to say to governments, 'Do not target tourism unfairly'". WTM delegates endorsed the declaration issued by the second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in October. It calls for the development of "truly sustainable tourism" and demands the sector responds to climate change by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the changing climate and improving energy efficiency. Frangialli added: "It is in our interests to ensure it is possible to ski in the Alps at the end of this century, to dive at the Great Barrier Reef or experience the wildlife of Africa. To consumers, we say give priority to sustainable tourism and avoid wasteful choices. However, several destinations called for additions. The Bangladesh delegation sought extra consideration for the least-developed countries and small islands, while India asked for an acknowledgment that developing countries "bear an inordinate share of the burden of climate change due to high-level emissions of developed countries". Brazil called for assistance for developing countries where tourism is vulnerable to climate change. Both Uruguay and Australia made demands over the economic impact of climate change prevention. Sri Lanka with 30% rainforest cover and home to 3.000 Asian elephants, and a long haul destination has "an advantage and a responsibility". "Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot," the country's Tourism Minister Renton de Alwis said. The wide variety of flora and fauna indigenous to Sri Lanka's unique ecosystem makes it particularly vulnerable to climactic shifts But for many environmental lobbyists, any attempt to really alter tourism's impact on the planet must by definition, be drastic. "Business as usual is not going to move us towards a carbon neutral world," said Jeff Gazzard, of the Aviation Environment Federation, who nevertheless welcomes the declaration. He insists that the tourism industry, as well as governments, must tackle the core issues, rather than trying to rid themselves of responsibility through measures like carbon offsetting, where individuals or companies balance their carbon output by financing green projects. "If I hear the words 'carbon offsetting' once more, I will scream. These kind of papal indulgences were sold in the Middle Age. It is like paying someone else to give up smoking," he said Any improvements in plane or fuel technology, he said, would be outpaced by growth in the sector, which expands by 3-4% per year. Aviation spewed out some 610 mega-tons of carbon each year, he points out, more than the world's fourth biggest economy, the UK. He predicts that, by 2010 the figure will rise to 776 mega-tons and, by 2025, it will reach 1,228 mega-tons. Gazzard proposes a hefty passenger tax on aviation of 3.6 pence (74 cents) per kilometer which would flatten demand growth to 1-2% each year. "This is an industry wedded to kerosene," he said. "There is no tax on aviation of any meaningful variety." The most recent figures from UNWTO suggest that the industry continues to expand with 610 million international tourist arrivals in the first eight months of 2007, which represents 32 million more than in the same period a year ago. The number is expected to swell to 1.6 billion by 2020. Tourism is the primary source of foreign exchange earnings in 46 out of 50 of the world's least developed countries, according to UNWTO.