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Sectors

Tourism and Travel

About this sector

Based on its contribution to global gross domestic product, the number of people it employs, and the number of clients it serves, tourism has been described as the world’s largest industry. In 2008 these figures were 9.5% of global GDP, over 200 million jobs – one in 13 of all jobs worldwide – 924 million international travellers in 2008, and perhaps 10 times the number of domestic travellers.
The industry forms one of the top five export earners in 150 countries, and is particularly important for developing countries. For the world’s 40 poorest countries, tourism is second to oil as a source of foreign exchange.

Impacts

Tourism facilities and infrastructure can threaten natural and important habitats.
Excessive use of natural resources, such as fresh water, energy and food can threaten supplies and lead to pollution through waste.
Tourist behaviour can threaten species and ecosystems (introduction of invasive alien species, harvesting of wild species for souvenirs).

Opportunities/Risks

The rise in demand for nature-based and eco-tourism creates business opportunities that can be tied with wildlife conservation.
Consumer awareness of ethical and environmental issues creates markets for responsible tourism.
Environmental impacts can limit access to capital insurance and incur legal risks.
Brand and reputation are strongly influenced by a company’s environmental performance.

Case Studies

Mitigation bank projects on Southern Timberlands

New market mechanisms which aim to compensate unavoidable loss in biodiversity are currently being developed, and some are already up and running. Mitigation banking is a new way to foster biodiversity conservation initiatives in very large land areas, and represent business opportunities for companies such as Weyerhaeuser, that owns lands as part of their business activities.

Partnering for biodiversity conservation on landfill sites

As part of its reputational risk management, SITA France is developing different programs aiming to conserve biodiversity on its landfill sites. These initiatives include field programs, such as the Red Kite conservation project, and development of new methodologies designed to better assess impacts on biodiversity and consequently better monitor conservation and rehabilitation actions.

Restoring wetlands to secure water supply

Highly dependent on water availability for its operations, Mondi leads a multi-stakeholder wetland restoration program in South Africa. The program has resulted in the loss of commercial forest for Mondi, a cost that is, nevertheless, part of the company’s social and environmental license to operate.

Sharing the beneﬁts arising from the use of biodiversity in cosmetics

Relying on the natural ingredients it sources in Brazil for its cosmetic product manufacturing and R&D, Natura has engaged in strong partnerships with local communities, who are not only compensated for the supply of raw ingredients, but also rewarded for their knowledge through beneﬁt sharing.

Using market mechanisms to protect biodiversity at the Panama Canal basin

To answer freshwater supply challenges caused by population growth and increase of productive activities, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is designing new biodiversity protection and restoration projects that are to be ﬁnanced by market mechanisms such as carbon credits and REDD+.

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Tools and Mechanisms

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES)

http://www.ecotourism.org

TIES promotes the development of ecotourism by providing guidelines, standards, training, technical assistance, research, and publications on sustainable ecotourism. TIES' global network of ecotourism professionals and travelers contributes to making tourism a viable tool for conservation, the protection of bio-cultural diversity, and sustainable community development.

International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)

http://www.itto.int/

ITTO, established in 1986, is an intergovernmental organization promoting the conservation and sustainable management, use, and trade of tropical forest resources. Its members represent about 80% of the world's tropical forests and 90% of the global tropical timber trade. Additional it contains provisions for information sharing, including non-tropical timber trade data, and allows for the consideration of non-tropical timber issues as they relate to tropical timber.

Institute for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (ICNB)

http://portal.icnb.pt/ICNPortal/vEN2007

The ICNB is part of the Portuguese Ministry for the Environment, and is the governmental body responsible for nature conservation and biodiversity policies as well as the management of Protected Areas.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

http://www.iucnredlist.org

The list of threatened taxa is maintained in a searchable database by the SSC Red List Programme as part of the SSC's Species Information Service (SIS). A subset of the records is provided here through the Search and Expert Search functions on the home page

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work program designed to meet the needs of decision makers and the public alike for scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being, as well as options for responding to those changes. If the MA proves useful to its stakeholders, it is anticipated that an assessment process modeled on the MA will be repeated every five to ten years and that ecosystem assessments will be regularly conducted at national or sub-national scales