Click on the thumbnail below to access the Users' Manual on the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development:

International guidelines for activities related to sustainable tourism development in vulnerable terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems and habitats of major importance for biological diversity and protected areas, including fragile riparian and mountain ecosystems

A. Scope

B. The policy-making, development planning and management process

1. Baseline information
2. Vision and goals
3. Objectives
4. Legislation and control measures
5. Impact assessment
6. Impact management and mitigation
7. Decision-making
8. Implementation
9. Monitoring and reporting
10. Adaptive management

C. Notification process and information requirements

D. Education, capacity-building and awareness-raising

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8. Implementation

60. Implementation follows a decision to approve a particular proposal, strategy or plan. Unless otherwise stated, the developer and/or operator will be responsible for complying with the conditions for granting the approval; and, as part of this process, they can also be required to notify the designated government authority of any failures to comply with conditions attached to an approval, including conditions for decommissioning, and/or of any changes in circumstances, including unforeseen environmental conditions and/or biodiversity issues (e.g., detection of rare or endangered species not recorded in the original proposal and impact assessment).

61. Any revisions or changes to an approved project, including additions and/or variations of activities, must be approved by the designated authorities before construction.

62. Implementation plans should recognize that indigenous and local communities and other relevant stakeholders may require assistance as actors in implementation, and should ensure that sufficient resources are available for implementation and for effective participation.

63. Local stakeholders should be given an ongoing opportunity to express their wishes and concerns to those managing tourism facilities and activities. As part of this process, clear and adequate information regarding implementation should be provided for review by the stakeholders, in forms that are accessible and comprehensible to them.

64. Availability of information on policies, programmes, projects, and their implementation, including information on existing and future guidelines, should be ensured and exchange of information fostered, for example, through the clearing house mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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Notes:

1. ⁽¹⁾For the purposes of the present Guidelines "indigenous and local communities" means "indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity"
2. ⁽²⁾ Monitoring at World Heritage sites should be designed to also incorporate the World Heritage criteria upon which the site was inscribed. The monitoring system should be designed to contribute to the World Heritage periodic reporting structure, aimed at gathering information on the state of conservation of the site