He pointed to an example of a trail built in a national park that should involve the local population in the active management of the area. “Over 30 percent of our land and ocean are protected national parks, so it is humanly impossible to monitor all of these areas,” he said. “The community can benefit economically from these areas and will tend to stay and care for them rather than just coming for short-term income.”
5 Findings from the COP26 Climate Summit
Map 1 of 5
1. The time to act is running out. the Big deal reached by diplomats created a clear consensus that all nations must do much more immediately to prevent a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.
2. How much each nation has to cut remains unclear. Rich countries are disproportionately responsible for global warming, but some leaders have insisted that it is the poorer nations that need to accelerate their shift away from fossil fuels.
3. The call for disaster relief increased. One of the biggest battles at the summit was about whether – and how – the world’s richest nations should compensate poorer nations for damage caused by rising temperatures.
4. A surprising deal to reduce emissions. Among the other notable deals that emerged from the summit was one USA-China approval More done to reduce emissions this decade, and China has for the first time committed to developing a methane reduction plan.
Visit Scotland, the country’s national tourism organization that helped draft the declaration, also played a leading role. The organization has reduced its own CO2 emissions by 74 percent since 2008, and more than 850 local businesses have received green tourism awards for their sustainability efforts.
Challenges persist
While the Glasgow Declaration has gained great momentum and set common goals, challenges lie ahead, particularly when it comes to setting a global standard for reporting emissions figures for such a wide range of sectors within the industry, from tour operators to destinations and Airlines to cruise ships.
Signatories are expected to hold each other accountable and set common standards in all international supply chains. Once action plans are presented within the next year, a reporting framework will be required. Anyone who does not submit a roadmap within this period will be removed from the declaration.
“Bringing value chains together is really important,” said Catherine Dolton, chief sustainability officer at IHG Hotels and Resorts. “Hotel developers, hotel owners, investors, franchisees and operators influence sustainability in different phases of the hotel life cycle.”
Visibly absent from the list of signatories were members of the cruise industry. The sector has made a separate commitment to operate CO2-neutral cruises by 2050 and to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030 in an annual environmental report released last week from the Cruise Line International Association industrial trade group. While the report includes detailed commitments to reduce the cruise industry’s carbon footprint through the use of new technologies and alternative fuels, it does not address other environmental issues such as waste disposal.
“Despite technological advances and some surveillance programs, cruises remain a major source of air, water (fresh and marine) and land pollution affecting sensitive habitats, areas and species, and a potential source of physical and psychological risk to human beings Bless you.” according to a recent report in the Marine Pollution Bulletin Journal.
