Carbon free Sri Lanka: Success of Davos conference

The 2nd International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, held in Davos from October 1 to 3, organised by UNWTO together with the United Nations Environment Program (Unep), the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and supported by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Swiss government, has urged "action by the entire tourism sector to face climate change as one of the greatest challenges to sustainable development, and to the Millennium Development Goals in the 21st Century."
The conference, participated by more than 600 representatives from over 100 countries and 20 international organisations, has become crucially important for several reasons in the present backdrop of world environment sickness. UNWTO has declared a yearly Climate Change Award for innovation in the battle against global warming. The conference got new momentum with a dynamic innovation by Sri Lanka, an important member state of UNWTO. Sri Lanka has shown unprecedented leadership in taking the initiative -- Earth Lung -- for a carbon-free Sri Lanka. This sensible and cooperative policy bridges the trade-off between environmental awareness and tourism's pro-development potential.
In this important conference, the world tourism and environment authorities met to find a solution for global warming, for which tourism has been identified as victim and victor. Geoffrey Lipman, Assistant Secretary-General UNWTO, has pointed that: "we know that the solutions for climate change and for poverty are interrelated. Here, at Davos, the tourism sector committed itself to take a long-term strategic position on these issues, starting now, and to do this as a contribution to the UN Secretary-General's global roadmap for the Climate Change Conference in Bali at the end of this year. We leave Davos more optimistic about our future on the common agreement to build upon quadruple bottom-line sustainability of economic, social, environmental and climate responsiveness." The conference has identified four basic areas for the tourism sector to address:

• Decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially from transport and accommodation activities;
• Adjusting tourism businesses and destinations to changing climate conditions;
• Using existing and new technology to get better energy efficiency; and
• Building financial resources to assist poor regions and countries.

It has been accepted that the tourism industry is challenged by climate change and, at the same time, is not an insignificant contributor to greenhouse gas emission. The Conference has also shown that, through sharper and better managed development courses, tourism can help in fighting poverty in developing countries like Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka etc., by reducing their carbon footprint and making a contribution to the protection and conservation of natural and nature-based properties. Literally, tourism has a very important and constructive part to play in the key sustainability challenges of the day.
Whereas climate is, in fact, an indispensable resource for tourism, there can be no complacency with respect to the power of climate change to affect the infrastructure, the people, the financial networks and the ecosystems that are vital to the success of tourism at all stages. In the conference, WTO advised member countries and the tourism industry to build up climate-tourism partnerships and efficiently use the climate information and prediction services provided by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, and to slot in climate factors in tourism policies, development and management plans, so as to guarantee a sustainable future for the industry.
Participants from public administration, the private sector, the academic community and civil society at large, got together to discuss particular issues around the response of the tourism industry to global warming, and focus on both destinations and activities. The meeting points on destinations have been reflected on:

• Coastal destinations and small islands;
• Mountain regions and winter tourism; and
• Nature-based destinations.

The tourism sector also has to build-up the various sectors and activities of this industry. This will be the subject of a final plenary session on mitigation with a special focus on:

• Transport;
• Tour operation and
• Accommodation.

In the conference, the importance of e-Tourism drew the serious attention of UNWTO. Carbon-free destinations and interactive e-Tourism tools to formulate a consistent response to climate challenge are among the suggestions discussed at the Davos International Conference. UNWTO requested all private and public stakeholders in tourism to factor climate change into their decision-making process. UNWTO backs alleviation of the effects of climate change, maintaining its obligation to eliminate excessive poverty and nurture sustainable development, as envisaged in the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Increased public awareness about climate change, and the solutions can be advanced through web-based tools which showcase destinations offering more climate responsible tourism options, as travel information is progressively becoming web-oriented. Changing consumption behaviour, for example, by encouraging carbon-neutral travel, will be promoted through the UNWTO e-Tourism Climate Change Award. This initiative is a global first, as it relates tourism response to climate change with the latest state of the art information and communications technology. It is also among the practical outcomes of UNWTO's public-private partnership signed with Microsoft, and acknowledges best practice responses to climate change in order to motivate innovation and change of behaviour to global warming. The pilot try-out for this award will be held at the Canadian Tourism Commission's "Canada-e-Connect," the first Canadian e-Tourism Strategy Conference & e-Tourism Awards in Vancouver, Canada, November 7-9. Each entry will be reviewed by a panel of experts selected by UNWTO, which will certify and promote the winners
The tourism industry requires groundwork for a possible change in tourism demand as a response to climate change. With transport as one of the most visible contributors to global warming, increased awareness regarding climate change might sway tourists to switch from long haul to short haul destinations. But these shifts could potentially harm least developed countries, most of which depend heavily on tourism income -- 46 of the 49 poorest countries of the world rely on international tourism as their primary source of foreign exchange earnings.
In the Davos Conference, Sri Lanka proposed a noble idea -- Earth Lung -- Carbon-Free Sri Lanka. This practical policy response represents an active campaign to raise environmental awareness and tourism development. As a small country, which depends heavily on long-haul travel to generate tourism income, Sri Lanka is facing up to the climate challenge and aims at becoming the first carbon-neutral destination. As its tropical forest systems can store large amounts of carbon which otherwise would add to the CO2 in the atmosphere, Sri Lanka aspires to be a travel and tourism Earth Lung. The initiative has been highly congratulated, and worked as an eye-opener for other destinations responsible for extensive CO2 emission.
With its commitment to a range of Land Use, Land Use Change & Forestry (LULUCF) activities, associated with appropriate Carbon Offset Programs (COP), "this initiative has both real and symbolic value, and we hope other countries and stakeholders will join the Earth Lung Community to create a global framework that will contribute to the overall UN response to climate change," said UNWTO Assistant Secretary-General, Geoffrey Lipman.
Climate change is not new to UNWTO's memo. Since the 1st International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, ýconvened by UNWTO ýin Djerba, Tunisia, in 2003, a lot of ýinformation and facts have been generated, identifying the complex relationships between the tourism sector and climate change. Just as climate change is being addressed globally under UN leadership, UNWTO has the responsibility of finding out how the tourism industry can adapt to and face the climate challenge.
With serious focus and consideration, the outcomes of the Davos Conference will be discussed at a UNWTO Ministerial Summit in London on November 13, and passed as suitable by the UN Strategy for Climate Change Response, to be talked about in Bali later in December. The world awaits something of use for facing global warming.
Mohammad Shahidul Islam is a travel writer and faculty member of National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation -- NTO.