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Global Warming, Ecotourism and Sustainable Transportation
Dear Madam or Sir:
The effects of global warming have recently captured public attention worldwide and are becoming an important issue on the political agenda around the globe. “Carbon neutral” is the 2006 Word of the Year of the New Oxford American Dictionary. It appears that tourism, including nature-based tourism, is both affected by climate change and contributes to it, especially through increased air travel.
TIES has begun to tackle this complex issue in its Fall 2005 EcoCurrents newsletter (downloadable from www.ecotourism.org). In 2007 we will take it one step further by initiating an advocacy campaign on the interrelationship between tourism and global warming, and what travelers and the tourism industry can do about it. Some companies have started to take action in this respect, but it is not known to what degree the tourism industry as a whole is aware of this issue or has begun working on it. In order to find out we are now conducting a survey of tour operators who offer nature- or community-based travel products, a sector which has traditionally spearheaded efforts to make tourism more sustainable.
This project is led by Dr. Wolfgang Strasdas, a TIES Board member and a professor of Sustainable Tourism Management at the University of Eberswalde/Germany. He is currently based at TIES' sister organization, the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD) at Stanford University in California.
This research is endorsed by The Adventure Travel Trade Association.
We would be very grateful if you could fill in the survey questionnaire which can be accessed online at Ecotourism and Sustainable Transportation: Survey Questionnaire for Tour Operators. This will take about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the range of activities you are already involved in. You may be brief as we are planning to discuss details in a follow-up phone interview if you are interested.
Based on the results of the survey, sustainable transportation guidelines will be developed for tour operators and tourism certification schemes. TIES is also working on developing sustainability standards for carbon-offset programs. It is important to us that guidelines are practical and feasible. Therefore we will organize a multi-stakeholder workshop prior to TIES’ annual Gala event in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 2007.
Please let us know if you are interested in contributing to the elaboration of the guidelines and/or would like to participate in the workshop. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact Wolfgang Strasdas at or by phone at +1 (650) 723-0894.
For more information on the Gala, please contact Courtney Baggett at .
Also, we would like to draw your attention to the upcoming Global Ecotourism Conference to be hosted by TIES, the United Nations Environment Programme and other organizations from May 14 to 16 in Oslo, Norway, which will provide yet another opportunity to learn about and highlight sustainable tourism practice, including environmentally-friendly transportation. If you are interested in participating in this conference, please contact Ayako Ezaki at .
We are looking forward to hearing from you and would like to thank you in advance for your time and interest.
Sincerely,
Wolfgang Strasdas