(Bonn, 07.02.2012) Chinesische Regierung verbietet Fluggesellschaften die Teilnahme am europäischen Emissionshandelsystem - EU Kommission will nicht nachgeben
Environment
(Bonn/ Durban, 09.12.2011) FTTSA and Tourism Watch, together with partners from the global North and South, called for binding negotiations on mitigation of emissions caused by aviation. Tourism interest groups were called to engage constructively at the UN climate summit in Durban, instead of...
The churches in Germanyhave established a carbon offsetting "climate collection" to support mitigation projects in developing countries and Eastern Europe. These projects are designed in such a way as to compensate emissions caused in Germany. It is an attractive approach, as it usually works out...
At a side event organised in Durban on the occasion of the recent climate negotiations, representatives of civil society, the tourism industry, government and the World Tourism Organization discussed the nexus of tourism and climate justice. Sabine Minninger reports on the discussion which...
(24/11/2011) In the run-up to the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, an international alliance of civil society organisations has called upon negotiators to seriously and objectively address the role of tourism. The alliance points out that it is irresponsible to exclude aviation on...
By Elizabeth Peredo Beltran
There is a rebellious movement growing across the planet protesting the unfair impacts of climate change. We must listen to the voices of peoples and listen to the voice of nature herself reminding us that something is really very wrong in how we do inhabit the planet...
In the international "Atmosfair Airline Index", a comparative study conducted by Atmosfair, the German Lufthansa has achieved only efficiency category D. As Sabine Minninger reports, the index is based on several indicators and identifies airlines that emit less CO2 per kilometre than others....
Due to the high leakages in tourism, stagnation instead of economic growth in the aviation sector would not seriously affect developing countries. As Antje Monshausen summarises, a study by the World Development Movements and the New Economics Foundation, London, has shown that a mere quantitative...
By Christina Kamp
Pacific islands countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change, which becomes a life and death issue in the Pacific. The impacts of climate change vary according to the geographical formation of each country. To find out how climate change is affecting people's lives...
The debate on an air ticket levy by the German Government and the current developments of the UN climate negotiations are still ongoing. Because of this, the Church Development Service (EED) invited economic, scientific and development experts to discuss the issue of climate financing.
By Sabine Minninger
The German Government's latest resolutions for consolidation of the federal budget also contain plans for an air ticket levy by 2011. However, aviation is increasingly arousing interest on an international level, as it provides a fresh new source of finance for climate...
By Christina Kamp
Lufthansa, along with a few other airlines, is looking at agro fuels to reduce aviation emissions. The fact that Lufthansa's plans include Jatropha has led to protest by environmental organisations who point out that Jatropha and similar plants can not be grown in a sustainable...
Benin - the small country at the Gulf of Guinea - is known as a travel destination rather among francophone travellers. With its hospitable population and its scenic, historic, and cultural treasures, Benin is one of the insiders tips for West Africa. However, the country is also struggling with...
Mount Cameroon attracts up to 1,000 mountaineers per year, from all over the world. A few years ago, German NGOs supported an integrated project for biodiversity conservation and ecotourism. A lot of challenges remain, as Jean Claude Tsafack reports. The local population lives in poverty,...
By Christina Kamp
In order to draw attention to the dramatic loss of biological diversity, the United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biological Diversity. This year's World Tourism Day will also be held under this banner. The objective of significantly slowing down the global...
On the occasion of the climate negotiations in June 2010 and the Tourism European Network meeting, both held in Bonn, EED Tourism Watch organised a side event on "Climate justice and tourism - Myths surrounding tourism and climate policies" at the University Club in Bonn.
The report of this...
(Bonn, 30/06/2010) The recent decisions taken by the German government in order to restore the federal budget also include a tax on air tickets to be levied from 2011. Even though only two percent of the world's population take flights at all, aviation is a significant contributor to global...
By Christina Kamp
They are getting bigger and bigger, more modern and even more luxurious, and the environmental standards are also improving. However, we wanted to know from "cruise junkie" Ross A. Klein why cruise ships continue to be such a problem for the environment and why developing...
On the occasion of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 15) in Copenhagen, "Respect - Institute for Integrative Tourism and Development" (Vienna, Austria) and partners have published a brochure on tourism and climate change. As...
Tour operators currently find themselves in a dilemma: On the one hand, they recognize that climate change mitigation is essential for protecting their economic success in the long term. On the other hand, a net reduction of their corporate emissions would "cannibalize" their core business in the...
By Imtiaz Muqbil
COPENHAGEN: An energetic two hour discussion on the issue of climate justice and tourism produced few answers to some of the long-standing and perplexing questions facing the growth of travel & tourism but did end with an agreement that civil society and the public and...
(Bonn, 16.12.2009) Eine engagierte Debatte, moderiert von Imtiaz Muqbil, führten am 10.12.2009 während den Klimaverhandlungen in Kopenhagen Vertreter tourismuskritischer NGOs zusammen mit Luigi Cabrini, dem Leiter der Abteilung Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Welttourismusorganisation der Vereinten...
By Amélie Vignaud
The tourism industry must act immediately to reduce its emissions and to operate a broad paradigm shift, from profit-centred strategies to people-centred ones, says a position paper developed by civil society groups and NGOs on the occasion of the UNFCCC talks from 29th...
By Alfredo Quarto and Jim Enright
News of the tsunami on 26 December 2004 shook the world by the sheer number of deaths and severity of this unprecedented natural disaster. However, time passing has eased memories and we are now slowly forgetting the human tragedy that greed and...
On the occasion of the climate conference COP 15 in Copenhagen, respect in cooperation with EED-Tourism Watch, Naturefriends International and other partners illustrate backgrounds and perspectives on the role of tourism in international climate politics.
The publication shows that the...
The volume "Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2009" is based on panel discussions and presentations made at the ITB Congress "Market Trends & Innovations" in March 2008, which had a focus on climate change. The book presents the concept of "zero footprint", which it says would work only if...
A partnership programme between the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and the University of Oxford addresses the impacts and challenges surrounding climate change, tourism, the environment, and economic development and community livelihoods across the Caribbean Basin, using an...
By Christina Kamp
Aviation will continue to grow. To prevent growth from being hampered by "enforced" regulation and to maintain competitiveness between airlines, an industry lobby has made suggestions on how to include international aviation in a new global climate deal to be agreed in...
By Christina Kamp
The climate summit in December in Copenhagen is meant to come to a new agreement to set the course for equitable, climate-friendly development. However, while big and bold steps are required, the cumbersome preparation process rather points towards a tug-of-war over minor...
Sustainable tourism development is the best form of disaster prevention in tourism. This was one of the conclusions drawn by organisations from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia at a meeting in August 2009 in Bangkok, as Sabine Minninger reports. For more than three years, several organisations...
Climate Change affects the world's small islands the most, with potentially devastating consequences for health, land, infrastructure and the economy. More than 80 percent of the 1,120 islands in the Maldives are less than 1 m above sea level, making it one of the world's lowest countries. With...
By Anitha Sharma
The impacts of climate change in small islands like the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea manifests itself in myriad forms. The IPCC projects an increase in global mean surface temperature of 1-3.5 degree Celsius by 2100. Its best estimate of sea level rise is 50...
By Sumesh Mangalassery
In recent times, climate change has captured the attention of scientists, policymakers and civil society groups. It is far less common that people's groups raise their voices and discuss the local level impacts of climate change and its implications to their lives and...
On Friday, 13th of March EED-Tourism Watch realized a presentation on Corporate Social Responsiblity in Practise under the title: "Sun, Sand and Sustainable Tourism".
Jennifer Seif (Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa) and Rosemary Viswanath (Equations, India) presented together with ECPAT...
By Mithika Mwenda
Key faith-based groups in Kenya joined the global community in marking the 2008 World Tourism Day in Nairobi whose theme revolved around climate change and the role of tourism, with a plea to the industrialized countries to take meaningful action that will enable poor countries...
On this year’s World Tourism Day, the official celebrations focussed on ”Tourism Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”. The main event was organised by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on 27th September in Lima, Peru.
Climate change was a prominent issue at this year’s International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin. As Sabine Minninger reports, major tour operators have entered into cooperation agreements with carbon offsetting organisations such as Atmosfair and Myclimate. They have introduced either “opt-in”...
By recommending the flight emissions calculator of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is losing credibility, according to a group of NGOs, including EED-Tourism Watch.
In the Himalayas, melting glaciers lead to increased flooding along the rivers of the region, affecting large regions in South Asia. Thomas Döhne reports from Nepal, where the Kosi river has caused major damage and has displaced more than three million people in Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar...
Frank Kürschner-Pelkmann looks at the dramatic impacts of climate change on a “sinking tourism paradise”: rising sea levels, coastal erosion, salinated freshwater sources, dying coral reefs, and tropical storms. While tourism is contributing to climate change, in the Pacific it is also seen as a...
By Christina Kamp
Pacific islands countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change, which becomes a life and death issue in the Pacific. The impacts of climate change vary according to the geographical formation of each country. To find out how climate change is affecting people's lives...
Climate Change, Tourism and Social Justice
Some Reflections from the South
By T. T. Sreekumar
Both global tourism and domestic tourism are deeply interlinked and pose serious threats to the livelihood options of local communities. They also have enormous impacts on carbon emissions and...
The Human Development Report 2007/2008, published byUNDP in November 2007, tackles the global challenges of climate change. It looks at the impact of climate change on the world's most vulnerableregions and the world's poorest people. Christina Kamp summarises some of the HDR's findings on both...
