Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 16 • 16th September 2005

Make Environment, Development Central to Tourism, Report Says

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The World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 6 September released a report promoting sustainable tourism that enhances economic growth while avoiding harm to the environment and local communities. The report, entitled “Making Tourism More Sustainable: a Guide for Policy Makers”, provides tourism decision makers with a framework for developing policies for more sustainable tourism, a toolbox of instruments that they can use to implement these policies, and some selected case studies. Although the massive increase predicted in tourism in coming years could enhance living standards in host countries, potentially alleviating poverty in small communities and providing markets for handicrafts, the study authors also point to potential threats to the environment and local communities. The need for sustainable forms of tourism, which the report presents in a set of twelve aims, has also been addressed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development and a new draft user’s manual for the CBD guidelines. Tourism is one of the twelve negotiating areas in the Committee for Trade in Services at the World Trade Organization, and ecotourism in particular has been proposed by the EC as part of their “core list” of environmental services under the Doha Declaration article 31(iii) mandate for enhanced liberalisation of environmental goods and services.

The WTO/UNEP Study is available at http://www.unep.fr/pc/tourism/library/A%20Guide%20for%20Policy%20Makers.htm

The CBD Guidelines and draft User’s Manual are available at http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/socio-eco/tourism/guidelines.asp

Information on World Trade Organization negotiations on services can be found at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/s_negs_e.htm

ICTSD Reporting; “WTO And UNEP Are Launching A Joint Publication: Making Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide For Policy Makers,” WTO PRESS RELEASE, 6 September 2005.