'Nature positive tourism is the only future for our industry'
Justin FrancisBiodiversity is in crisis. Without addressing the staggering global loss of forests, mangroves, coral reefs and other life-sustaining habitats vital for absorbing carbon from our atmosphere, we won’t stand a chance of achieving the climate goals set for 2030. All industries – including tourism – have a responsibility to play their part.
The main drivers of biodiversity loss – land use change, pollution, climate change, over-exploitation, and the invasion of non-native species – are endemic throughout the tourism industry. These are issues that don’t only affect wildlife trips – just 7% of holidays taken each year specifically focus on nature – but every holiday we book, from city breaks to beach escapes.
Luxury resorts now take pride of place along stretches of coastline once covered in mangroves, the ancient temples at Angkor Wat are threatened with collapse from the unsustainable removal of underlying ground water used to support the millions of tourists visiting each year, and in Amsterdam, a 2021 report commissioned by local residents showed pollution from docked cruise ships was the equivalent to 31,000 extra trucks driving a lap of the city each day.
There are less obvious impacts too. In the UK, non-native species (things like quagga mussel, Japanese knotweed and red swamp crayfish) cost the UK economy £2 billion a year. Research has shown incidences of non-native species are far higher in high-tourism areas, where they arrive on the soles of boots, hulls of fishing boats or in the ballast water of ships.
So what are we doing about it? Last summer, Responsible Travel became first travel company globally to commit to becoming nature positive by 2030. To do it, we will need to work closely with all our suppliers and partners on all types of holidays – not just wildlife ones – to assess and reduce the impacts they have on nature. In doing so, we will also need to increase our support for endangered species and for re-wildling projects.
Re-wilding is an area in which I believe responsible tourism has a key role to play. Whether it’s right or not, all decisions around land use – for food production, housing, logging or habitat restoration – are financially motivated.
Radical change
Responsible nature-based tourism provides the necessary commercial benefits, jobs and economic incentives for local communities that can persuade land-owners to set aside land for wildlife. If we can increase nature-based tourism, we can increase the amount of land we save – vital if we are to hit our global target of protecting and preserving 30% of land and ocean by 2030.
All tourism impacts on nature and all tourism relies on nature. Without it, we don’t have clean air, stable climates, diverse food or beautiful scenery. Nature can no longer only be a consideration on wildlife and ecotourism trips.
As an industry, we need to radically alter our mindset and how we consider nature in the holidays we offer. We need all of us to join the pledge to get nature positive by 2030.
Justin Francis is chief executive of activist operator Responsible Travel. He is among several industry professionals to write for TTG to coincide with the Cop26 climate summit, whose columns will appear online over the coming days.
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