21 May, 2017
Tourists waiting to take photographs of orangutans during feeding
time at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre,
Malaysia.© Center for Intern
22 May 2017 is International
day for biodiversity and this year’s theme is tourism. The UN Convention on biodiversity (CBD) is
using this opportunity to promote the value of tourism in significantly
reducing threats to, and maintaining or increasing key wildlife populations and
biodiversity through tourism revenue. It does mention the need to reduce the
negative impacts of tourism but, whereas it sings the supposed values of
tourism, it merely whispers the negative impacts.
Positive examples of tourism do
exist, such as Community Based Tourism projects, which protect territories,
livelihoods and cultures. Friends of the Earth has worked with several such
initiatives around the world, such as community based eco-curtural tourism in Timor Leste. Self-governance is essential, as
are revenues that go directly to the local community and respect for their
traditional ways of generating income. Unfortunately many initiatives don’t
survive without the help of NGOs.
Sadly few sustainable tourism
projects are actually viable.
For example many “ecotourism” initiatives, whilst
better for the environment, fail local communities by denying them revenue
generation and self-determination. On a global scale, positive tourism is
minimal. Yet the few examples that exist are being used to suggest that the
entire tourism sector could become sustainable.
The biggest culprit of unsustainable
and economically unjust tourism remains mainstream tourism. Indigenous peoples
are often evicted from their land to make way for tourist resorts. Human rights abuses are rife, with some cases ending
in death for people protecting their land. Hotels are often built on
valuable ecosystems, destroying them in the process. Proposals such as the El
Salvadoran Government’s tourism project in 2013 which threatened both coastal
mangrove forests and local communities often fall foul of more than one
injustice.
Young boy swimming in
mangroves in La Tirana, El Salvador ©Friends of the Earth International / Jason
Taylor
Indigenous people are often
banned from their own territories as sacred sites are privatized, so tourists
can enjoy them undisturbed. The profit from tourist resorts remains in the
hands of transnational corporations. Furthermore local people are often
exploited as workers in these resorts and hotels. A person’s water usage in
hotels is significantly higher than at home. In some cases tourists use 16 times as much water as locals, causing conflict and
disease.
Food waste is a huge issue.
Even small resorts waste up to 150 tons of food a year, and a staggering 36% of all food purchased ends up in the bin. Cruise
liners dump up to 3.8billion litres of sewage in the oceans polluting
ecosystems. These are just a few of the issues generated by mainstream
tourism.
Sustainable tourism initiatives
usually mean a mere change in the levels of waste and energy consumption rather
than a change of business model. Initiatives are purely voluntary, a practise
which has proved disastrous in other economic sectors.
It seems unlikely that tourism
can become a green industry. 5% of global emissions are linked to tourism, purely for the benefit of richer middle and
higher classes. The aviation industry alone plans 700% growth by 2050. It
plans to offset its increased emissions through REDD programs.
REDD is a false solution and desperately unsustainable.
Tourism comprises 10% of the global GDP with a projected annual growth
of 3-5%. It does not need the promotion for economic development the UN is giving
it on this day of International biodiversity.
What tourism needs is policies
that respect the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples,
including
their right to self-determination, the visitors they receive, a fair share of
the revenue, and protection for their ecosystems. Official studies on the
negative impacts of corporate tourism and tough measures to prohibit the worst
practices are desperately needed. Please help us celebrate International
biodiversity day by calling for a change in the tourism business model.
