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Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | PositioningpaperAKTE/Fernweh (2002): Rio+10. Red card for tourism. 10 Principles and challenges for a sustainabletourism development in the 21st Century. Working Group on Tourism & Development (AKTE),Basel/FernWeh - Tourism Review, Freiburg i. Br.The Green Economy – No Limits to Growth? Tourism as a "Key Sector"in Sustainable DevelopmentBy Christina KampIt is being opposed to "business as usual", at least rhetorically: the "green economy" – one ofthe subjects on top of the agenda of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development(Rio+20) in June 2012. The concept, however, fails to question the prevailing growthparadigm and seriously neglects fundamental challenges of global equity and humandevelopment. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report"Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication"in 2011. Written in collaboration with UNWTO, one chapter of the report is dedicated totourism, which has been assigned an important role in the "green economy". 12In theory, the definition sounds good. "A Green Economy can be defined as an economy thatresults in improved human well-being and reduced inequalities over the long term, while notexposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological scarcities," saysLuigi Cabrini, Director of Sustainable Development of Tourism at the World TourismOrganization (UNWTO). 13 To achieve it, however, requires a paradigm shift away from thegrowth model and innovative ways of addressing the issues that have been affecting thetourism sector's sustainability performance. More efficiency is certainly not sufficient.More efficiently more of the same?The tourism chapter advocates investments in greener and sustainable tourism "as a means tocreate jobs and reduce poverty while also improving environmental outcomes". In essence, thepaper reinforces the growth paradigm and suggests that more energy efficiency, reductions inwater consumption and better waste management can somehow solve the problems – whiletourism can keep growing as projected: from about 980 million international arrivals in 2011(UNWTO, 2012) to about 1.6 billion by 2020 (UNWTO, 2001), in addition to around fourbillion estimated domestic arrivals (in 2008 – a figure that is also likely to grow significantly inthe future).For development to be globally sustainable and to support a world population of nine billionby 2050, such growth cannot and must not be the objective. In many countries of the world,the ecological footprint is already far too large. The Rio Declaration on Environment andDevelopment (1992) 14 clearly called upon states to reduce and eliminate unsustainablepatterns of production and consumption.12 Available at www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_11_Tourism.pdf13 Cabrini, Luigi (2012) Tourism in the UN Green Economy Report. Presentation at UNWTO high-level regional conference on greentourism, 3 May 2012, Chiang Mai, Thailand (http://asiapacific.unwto.org/sites/all/files/pdf/2012may_chiangmai_lc_0.pdf)14 Available at www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?documentid=78&articleid=116318
Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | PositioningpaperReducing unsustainable resource consumption (while maintaining or increasing quality oflife) is difficult enough at current levels, and even more difficult if growth rates are factored in.How would more people travelling moreand longer distances possibly lead to lessenergy consumption and less CO 2emissions than we have today (or than wehad in any given base year in the past)?They won't, as UNEP and UNWTOacknowledge: "Given the rising globaltrend for travel and the growing energyintensity of most trips, future emissionsfrom the tourism sector are expected toincrease substantially, even consideringcurrent trends in technological energyefficiencygains in transport (air andground) and accommodation."If UNWTO and UNEP talk about a greeneconomyinvestment scenario entailing significant environmental benefits, the stress is on"compared with business-as-usual" – while "business as usual" indeed means the projectedgrowth path. According to the report, in the "business as usual" scenario up to 2050, tourismgrowth will imply increases in energy consumption (111 percent), greenhouse gas emissions(105 percent), water consumption (150 percent), and solid waste disposal (252 percent). The"green" scenario is expected to "undercut" this by (merely!) 18 percent for water consumption,44 percent for energy supply and demand, and 52 percent for CO 2 emissions. This still leads toan enormous sacrifice of environmental quality.What gives rise to serious concern is that this sacrifice will be the consequence of luxuryconsumption, not of fulfilling the development needs of the poor who, under a global justiceimperative, need to – and have the right to – increase their consumption. Advocating tourismas a "key sector" for sustainable development means a promotion of unsustainableconsumption of the rich – allegedly (but not necessarily) to the benefit of the poor.Investing in greening vs. investing in (green) tourismIn their report, UNEP and UNWTO try their best to place emphasis on the "greening oftourism" – like investments in energy efficiency – which can improve environmentaloutcomes. This, however, is not the same as "investments in green tourism" which may well be(mis-?)understood as a new promotion strategy for the tourism sector. There is a risk that thiswill be the way in which tourism will be taken up in the outcome document at Rio+20.It would provide governments with handy advice: The majority of tourism businesses aresmall and medium enterprises. According to UNEP and UNWTO, "governments andinternational organisations can facilitate the financial flow to these important actors with anemphasis on contributions to the local economy and poverty reduction." In essence, any kindof tourism promotion can nowadays be justified by claiming that it contributes to povertyreduction, ignoring that tourism activities as such are unlikely to be sustainable. They areembedded in a larger context that includes challenges of equity and justice, both globally andlocally. Who travels, who does not? Who benefits from tourism, and who loses in the process?The losers are not only those who simply do not benefit. In many cases, they are the poor whoare disproportionately affected and get marginalised further.19
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