Climate Change and Tourism - UNEP - Division of Technology ...

102 Climate Change and Tourism – Responding to Global Challenges
“It is vital for tourism destinations […] to anticipate the coming changes and to draw their
consequences, starting now. (Adaptation) is a long-term project that must be anticipated and
carefully prepared beforehand; it is not easy to see this through successfully, because it entails,
all at the same time, modifying economic circuits, introducing new technologies, carrying out
intensive training, investing in the creation of new products, […] changing the minds of public
authorities, entrepreneurs, host communities and tourists.”
UNWTO, 9 July 2008
Francesco Frangialli, UNWTO Secretary-General (2007)
A number of adaptation measures are currently employed in the tourism sector. Relying on past
experience is not likely to be adequate in many destinations, as the future climate and environmental
conditions are going to be sufficiently different as to require further adaptation. An important lesson
learned from Hurricane Katrina and the extremely warm winter of 2006–2007 in the European Alps is
that adaptations can be overwhelmed by events unexpected and beyond the range of experience of the
tourism sector. Such events should be anticipated under climate change, and consequently there is a
critical need for the tourism sector to evaluate the effectiveness of current adaptations under projected
climate conditions.
Knowledge of the capacity of current climate adaptations utilized by the tourism sector to cope
successfully with future climate change is rudimentary at this time. Furthermore, the available studies
that have examined the climate change risk appraisal of tourism operators 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511,
512, 513 have consistently found low awareness of climate change and little evidence long-term strategic
planning in anticipation of future changes in climate. Consequently, the incorporation of adaptation
to climate change into the collective minds of private and public sector tourism decision-makers
(‘mainstreaming’) remains several steps away.
There will undoubtedly be costs of climate change and costs of adaptation. 514 The causes of climate
change are global, however impacts are also experienced locally and as such these costs cannot just be
borne by those affected, especially as those worst affected are likely to be those less able to take action
to mitigate the changes (e.g., developing countries and local tourism SMMEs). Therefore these costs
also need to be addressed by governments and international organisations. International climate policy
generally accepts that developed countries have obligation to offer assistance to less develop countries
in order to enhance their adaptive capacity to climate change. The UNFCCC Article 4.1 stipulates
commitments for all countries in terms of formulating, cooperating and considering the impacts of
climate change in social, economic and environmental policies and actions, and also requires Parties
to cooperate, exchange and communicate information related to the implementation of adaptation
measures. Articles 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9 specifically address obligations to assist developing
countries (including SIDS and LCDs) in meeting various commitments of Article 4.1 through various
funding mechanisms. This commitment to assist developing countries does not go as far as providing
a formal or informal process for deciding how the burden of funding should to be shared and how
(and to whom) adaptation funds should to be distributed. 515 Wider issues relate to decisions as to
who defines risk and vulnerability, who ‘deserves’ aid and at what level it is given – national, regional,
local, institutional/organisational, community – and also who is ‘responsible’ for paying, remain critical
questions for the international community to resolve. The tourism sector should ensure that it has a
voice in the adaptation agenda dialogue that will only intensify in the decades ahead.