Introduction
Oceans are essential to all three pillars of sustainable development – economic development, social development, and environmental protection. They cover 71 percent of our planet’s surface and make up 95 percent of all the space available to life. They support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
While the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) stresses that tourism “has the potential to contribute, directly or indirectly” to all of the SDGs, they only cherry pick a few of them, including oceans: “Tourism development must be a part of integrated Coastal Zone Management in order to help conserve and preserve fragile ecosystems and serve as a vehicle to promote the blue economy, in line with target 14.7: “By 2030, increase the economic benefits to small island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fish- eries, aquaculture and tourism.”
However, UNWTO’s “trickle down” approach is not adequate to deal with the range of impacts tourism has on coastal areas and the oceans, through climate change, pollution and man-made destruction. Oceans and coasts are at the heart of tourism, eighty percent of all tourism takes place in coastal areas. The sector therefore has a special responsibility to safeguard both high seas and coastal areas.
The High Seas
The high seas are the 64 percent of the oceans lying beyond coastal waters. They are international waters, for which regulations exist, which are hardly enforced. Tourism plays a role in a number of threats the high seas face.
The atmosphere affects oceans, and vice versa. Air temperature rises, oceans absorb the heat and warm up. This higher temperature makes water expand and ice caps melt, with higher sea levels and more tropical storms as a result. Oceans also regulate the climate by absorbing CO2, which, by lowering the pH, causes acidification and de-oxygenation.
Thus the oceans slowly suffocate, which is a threat to marine wildlife and all other life on the planet, since the oceans generate half of the oxygen on earth.
Tourism contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions produced by aviation (>> Goal 13) and cruise ships. These huge cruise ships, with up to 4,000 passengers plus crew (and sometimes even more), are also a major source of marine pollution.
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Coastal Areas
183 countries have coastlines, 37 per cent of the world’s population live in coastal communities and most of the commodities extracted from the ocean come from coastal regions. The coasts are not only where the sea meets the land, but also where water from the land enters the ocean. The beaches, estuaries, dune systems, mangroves, marshes, lagoons, swamps, reefs, etc. are two-way streets, all with their own value – ecologically, socially and economically. Tourism impacts coastal areas in several ways.
Rising sea levels and stronger storms have irreversible effects on the sensitive coastal ecosystems and major implications for their social and economic fabric. Climate change causes loss of protective ecosystems like coastal wetlands that protect shores from flooding. Thus touristic coasts becoming dangerous areas, as the 2004 Tsunami showed.
Higher sea levels will also mean less space for tourists at the beach. This however is only the least of the problems. Stronger storms and higher sea levels increase the rate of coastal erosion and threaten all lower lying land. Not only touristic beaches and marine ecosystems are being destroyed, but entire cities come under threat (Barcelona, New York City, Venice), which will also lead to a loss of tourist attractions.
Special attention needs to be paid to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which often depend on both their coasts and tourism. The number of international tourists visiting SIDS destinations has increased significantly and reached more than 43 million in 2015. Tourism accounts for over 40 percent of the export value in half the SIDS.