Work for List of World Heritage Sites from UNESCO, the educational, scientific and cultural organization of the United Nations, is a kind of golden seal of approval in the travel world. The list, which dates back to 1978, features more than 1,150 sites nominated by the host countries and includes tourist attractions such as the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Conservation Complex. Amazon Center in Brazil.
It also has some of the most famous and most visited glaciers in the world, including those in Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks. But according to a report released by the agency last weeka third of them are predicted to disappear by 2050 because of climate change.
Potentially disappearing glaciers include the last remaining glaciers in Africa, in Kilimanjaro National Park and in Mount Kenya, those on Mont Perdu of the Pyrenees, extending across the border of France and Spain , and in the Italian Dolomites.
The report, published days before the United Nations COP27 climate change conference begins in Egypt, poses a challenge to the tourism industry, a major contributor to global carbon emissions, with an amount emissions are estimated between 8 and 11% of total greenhouse gas emissions. , according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, or WTTC. Aviation accounts for about 17% of total travel carbon emissions.
James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Tourisma tour company that specializes in sustainable tourism and organizes journeys to many of the glaciers featured in the report.
“It was very much a wake-up call,” he said. “The key message is that ultimately for the tourism industry, there is no vaccine against climate change. We must act urgently to rapidly decarbonise.”
Fifty of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites are home to glaciers, and 18,600 glaciers have been identified at those sites. According to the report, a third of the glaciers in these locations are “condemned to disappear by 2050”.
“These are the projections,” said Tales Carvalho Resende, a UNESCO researcher from Brazil and one of the report’s authors. “Of course, we hope we’re wrong, but these are predictions based on hard science.”
Glaciers would disappear regardless of the “climate scenario,” he said. But two-thirds of the remaining glaciers in the World Heritage Site could still be saved if global warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to UNESCO, the glaciers on the list are losing 58 billion tons of ice each year, equivalent to the annual water use of France and Spain. Melting is responsible for nearly 5% of global sea level rise, according to the study.
Renewable energy prices fell dramatically and a global political movement led to scientists conclude that warming in this century will most likely fall between two or three degrees, much lower than the dire forecast of 4 to 6 degrees that has ever been given. But limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees is highly unlikely, and even one or two more degrees of warming will lead to more extreme weather, disrupt the environment and cause suffering for millions. People.
However, Mr. Resende said, the UNESCO report shows that the tourism industry can play a huge role in preserving World Heritage sites and helping to change tourist behaviour.
He pointed at the 2019 ban bans tourists from climbing Uluru, a giant monolith in Australia that is believed by the Anangu people, a group of Aboriginal people who are the custodians of the sacred rock. The ban, introduced after decades of lobbying by the people of Anangu, was largely respected by tourists and gave the rangers time to maintain the flora and fauna at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, a World Heritage Site.
Mr. Resende describes this as an example of how education and partnership with local communities can force tourists to change their travel habits and learn to better protect sensitive destinations – articles Learning can be applied to limit emissions-generating behaviors.
Travel companies like Expedia and Kayak can also encourage people to travel less often by advertising weeklong trips instead of three-day or weekend excursions, he said. According to Mr. Resende, a tourist who flies once a year on a longer holiday will have a smaller carbon footprint than a traveler who makes many shorter trips on a plane.
At the last COP conference, held in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, more than 300 members of the trillion-dollar global tourism industry, including tour operators, heads of hotel chains and the head of the tourism board, come together sign in Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. Since then, more than 530 stakeholders signed the pledge.
The agreement requires them to submit a specific and transparent plan within 12 months to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach “net zero” by 2050.
Jeff Roy, executive vice president of Collette toura travel agency specializing in organizing trips to World Heritage sites.
“The good news is that the tourism industry has come together to share resources and work collaboratively to transform the tourism industry involved in climate action in a way that we have never seen before,” he said in a statement. before. “There is more work to be done and quickly, because the pace of climate change is accelerating.”
For example, Intrepid has begun ferrying travelers between some destinations instead of flying, a change from previous operations, Mr. Thornton said.
The release of the report raised concerns that tourists would flock to the glaciers and see them before they disappeared, exacerbating overcrowding in national parks and areas. other fragile nature.
Fred Bianchi, director of Worcester Polytechnic Institute Glacier National Park project center in Montana. The park is not mentioned in the UNESCO report, but scientists are concerned the park may be glacier-free by 2030.
The pandemic has forced many parks to set up reservation systems in advance to avoid crowds. The UNESCO report provides another incentive to perpetuate that kind of system, says Bianchi.
But more tourists will see the damage from man-made climate change, says Luther Like, a booking agent at Gray Line Travelwhich organizes trips to Yosemite National Park, home to two glaciers, Lyell and Maclureretreated for decades.
“It is something to see it in pictures but to see it in person has a different impact,” said Mr. “Honestly, it’s scary.”
