New UNEP report released
to mark World Environment Day: "Tourism
in the Polar Regions - The Sustainability
Challenge"
TROMSO/NAIROBI, 3 June 2007 - Polar tourism
has grown dramatically in the last ten years
raising concerns about the possible negative
impact on the environment and local communities,
a new report says.
In the Arctic, tourist numbers have grown
from about 1 million in the early 11000s
to more that 1.5 million today. In Antarctica,
the number of ship-borne tourists increased
by 430% in last 14 years and land-based
tourists by 757% in last 10 years.
At the same time, appropriate management
practices and infrastructure in the Arctic
and Antarctica have not in general matched
the challenge of rising flows of visitors.
The adoption and application of relevant
sustainable tourism policies and programmes
is urgently needed, says the report.
These are some of the key messages in "Tourism
in the Polar Regions - The Sustainability
Challenge", a new report from the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), launched
in advance of World Environment Day.
"Regions, once the preserve of local
and indigenous communities and scientists,
are now very much on the fashionable tourist
map and cruise line schedules," says
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and UNEP Executive Director.
"The fragility of some of these unique
and biologically rich ecosystems may be
impacted by the number of visitors and the
activities undertaken. Yet, tourism is an
activity that if sustainably managed and
with profits and revenues fairly shared
can contribute to the conservation of the
polar environment as well as the well-being
and livelihoods of local communities in
the Arctic," he said.
According to the new report, produced jointly
with the International Ecotourism Society,
there are serious concerns that the rapidly
growing tourist industry is promoting environmental
degradation in the Polar Regions (especially
in the Arctic) by putting extra pressures
on land, wildlife, water and other basic
necessities.
With visitors to the Arctic now greatly
exceeding their host populations in many
popular destinations, there are also fears
that unique cultural practices will be lost,
and negative impacts on local peoples will
grow.
According to Stefanos Fotiou, the report's
coordinator and head of the UNEP tourism
unit: "There is a potential, like what
happens in the Galapagos islands, to use
tourism revenues for nature conservation
projects in the Polar Regions."
When it comes to advancing polar tourism
policies and programmes, Foriou says that
the important thing, however, is to adopt
the right approaches to the very different
situations prevailing in the Arctic and
Antarctica.
"What is now needed to advance sustainable
polar tourism policies and programs is to
assemble existing information and create
more practical tools; provide open access
to that information and implement pilot
projects that will contribute to the mainstreaming
of a more sustainable tourism in the Arctic,"
Fotiou says. "In the Antarctic efforts
should be continued to ensure that commercial
activities will not impact on the successes
of the Antarctic Treaty system, in particular
in securing Antarctica as a natural reserve,
"devoted to peace and science".
News from the report came as Helen Bjørnøy,
the Norwegian environment minister, announced
a ban on ships using heavy fuel oils visiting
the protected areas on the east coast of
Svalbard in the Arctic circle.
"Tourism has become a big industry.
Tourism brings jobs and opportunities to
people all over the world?including Norway,
including the Polar regions. But tourism?especially
the large-scale global tourism?is also producing
a growing pressures on resources, nature
areas and ecosystems," she added.
Ms Bjørnøy further announced
that Norway intends to nominate Svalbard
for inclusion on the UN Educational Scientific
and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) World
Heritage List.
"For Norway, it is a declared goal
to make Svalbard one of the best managed
wilderness areas in the world. All the environmental
regulations for Svalbard have been gathered
into one Act. All new activities?including
within tourism?are therefore assessed on
the basis of their overall pressure on the
natural environment and cultural heritage.
I have therefore taken an initiative to
put this area on our 'tentative list' to
UNESCO," she said.
Note to Editors
Copies of "Tourism in the Polar Regions
- The Sustainability Challenge" can
be purchased from www.earthprint.com
For more information on UNEP tourism work
http://www.unep.fr/pc/tourism/home.htm
The new UNEP/IES report outlines the key
features of the Polar Region environment
and describes tourism's multiple roles and
impacts in both the Arctic and Antarctica.
It describes the significance of polar tourism,
explains the trends and impacts, proposes
an agenda for sustainable tourism development,
and outlines principles, guidelines and
selected good practices to conserve these
unique wilderness areas through the regulation
and management of tourism.
World Environment Day, commemorated each
year on 5 June, is one of the principal
vehicles through which the United Nations
stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment
and enhances political attention and action.
The World Environment Day slogan selected
for 2007 is Melting Ice - a Hot Topic? In
support of International Polar Year, the
WED theme selected for 2007 focuses on the
effects that climate change is having on
polar ecosystems and communities, and the
ensuing consequences around the world. For
more information see www.unep.org/wed/2007
and www.wed.npolar.no For More Information
Please Contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson,
on Tel: +254 20 7623084, Mobile: +254 733
632755, Alternative Mobile: +254 727 531
253 E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org. Or, Robert
Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for Europe on
Tel: +33 1 4437 7613, Mobile: +33 6 2272
5842m email: Robert.bisset@unep.frbisset@unep.frbisset@unep.fr
http://www.cites.org/
