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

UNWTO, 9 July 2008
Impacts and Adaptation at Tourism Destinations
turn, impact on tourism by affecting, for example, the levels or the very existence of endemic species,
animal populations, birdsong, the flowering of plants, coral reef, and the type and cover of forests.
219, 220, 221, 222 See additional discussion on biodiversity impacts on natural and cultural heritage in
Section 9.1.4.
Landscape aesthetics, the presence of natural hazards and the extent of damage to infrastructure will
be affected by climate-induced environmental change in a number of ways; e.g., flooding, coastal
erosion, desertification, an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme events such as hurricanes and
tropical storms, and changes in geomorphology. For example, future climate change has the potential to
increase significantly the nature, frequency and magnitude of natural hazards in mountain regions via
the processes of glacier retreat and the melting of permafrost. 223, 224, 225 Because glaciers are coupled
to their slope and valley-floor, retreat impacts upon these in a number of complex ways including
heightened risk of rockfalls, glacial lake outburst floods, large-scale debris flow events and increasingly
dynamic valley floors that are susceptible to deep and rapid river entrenchment. These form significant
natural hazards which in many glaciated mountain regions of the world increase the vulnerability
of destinations and socio-economic infrastructure in such regions. Furthermore, recent research has
shown that mountain slopes underlain by permafrost are at high risk of future instability with climate
warming. 226, 227
The health status of millions of people will be impacted by projected climate change-related exposures,
particularly those regions with a low adaptive capacity. 228 Countries identified as having the lowest
adaptive capacity are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and developing countries in Asia and Central
Asia, with regions experiencing conflict situations and small-island states also included in this category.
229, 230 Direct impacts from extreme weather events and environmental change will have consequences
on morbidity and mortality, but the indirect impacts may be more significant. The greatest impacts are
likely to be caused by proportionally small increases in diseases that currently have major impacts
already, but which will become more widely prevalent, such as diarrhoea, malnutrition and vectorborne
diseases. 231, 232 Though some of the regions most severely impacted are not, on a world scale,
major tourist destinations when the number of trips is considered (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa), it must be
recognized that tourism can be of a significant importance to their economy and their communities’
livelihoods.
The ability of some destinations to provide tourist facilities, services and products will be compromised
by these indirect impacts from climate change. Alterations in the spatial distribution of vector-borne
diseases are anticipated, so that diseases such as malaria (Figure 9.1), dengue fever, viral encephalitis
and Lyme disease are projected to occur in regions where they have been previously unknown. Potential
disease transmission rates may increase substantially for diseases such as malaria (P. falciparum – Figure
9.1), where the risk of transmission is projected to double in across Western Europe and Eastern United
States by the 2020s and large parts of central Asia, Mexico and regions of South America by the 2050s.
233 These developments will compromise infrastructures in some destinations, and their ability to cater
adequately for tourism, as well affecting tourists themselves who will be exposed to new risks when
travelling.
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