From Agenda 21 to Copenhagen – The Davos Declaration and the Seal the Deal campaign
Tuesday, 09 Dec, 2009
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Recalling the UN Millennium Goals and the World Summit on Sustainable Development’s Plan of Implementation, and particularly the 10 year framework of programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), as well as the European Sustainable Development Strategy which expresses these global processes at the European level, stakeholders are reminded of the overarching Agenda 21 global responses to both climate change and the social transformation problematic, a response framework that provides critical guidance for the sustainable development of the tourism sector.
With the backing of its specialized agencies and programmes and, under the leadership of UNEP, the United Nations have launched a Green Economy Initiative (GEI) which aims at reviving the global economy and boosting employment, while simultaneously accelerating the fight against climate change, environmental degradation and poverty. The UNWTO Davos Declaration process on Climate Change and Tourism and “The Roadmap for Recovery” were also developed to assist the sector in its engagement in the green economy, including: the Global Green New Deal , the Seal the Deal Campaign9 (Cool Planet 2009 in Europe) and other green initiatives. Considering the importance of the tourism sector in Europe and to many developing countries, the GEI will dedicate a special chapter in the GEI report to assess how investment in sustainable tourism solutions can contribute to the sustainable development of the sector and the transformation to the Green Economy at national and global levels.
These processes provide the leading policy lines and guidance for dealing with climate change and sustainable tourism development, and therefore this report endorses and reiterates the Davos message, asking tourism stakeholders to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation measures by:
- reducing their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), derived especially from transport and accommodation activities; applying existing and new technologies to improve energy efficiency; and securing financial resources to help poor regions and countries achieve these objectives;
- adapting tourism businesses and destinations to changing climate conditions.
With climate change and social transformation as the driver of sustainable development, this report reminds stakeholders in the sector to immediately undertake steps to realise these four key points within the broader sustainable development agenda.
To this end the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism constituted within the „Marrakech process‟11 is also recognised as playing a leading role at the global aswell as at sub-global, national and regional levels to ensure that the tourism sector is taken fully into account in the development of sustainable consumption and production plans.
With regard to European tourism stakeholders, it has been recognised that the European Union and its member states are developing sustainable consumption and production programmes, and there are many national and regional examples of green economic development that – when added to UN initiatives – can already provide part of a global-to-local tapestry of the green global economy.
WEB RESOURCES:
climate-l.org/2009/08/06/event-announcement-2009ministers%E2%80%99-summit-roadmap-for-recovery- %E2%80%93-sustainable-tourism-in-challenging-times/
www.unep.org/greeneconomy/
www.unep.org/greeneconomy/
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