Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

186 E Diversity of landscapes and ecosystems
Travel and Tourism Council tourism accounts for
over 10 per cent of global GNP. At over US$650
thousand million, it is the most important source of
tax revenue. That is why many developing countries
are counting on tourism as the motor of economic
development. Tourism is frequently the most important
source of foreign currency and thus, alongside
the exports of raw materials or agricultural products,
it contributes to paying off debts. Tourism has many
connections to other branches of the economy and
can have an effect on incomes and employment. It
can only be ‘automated’ to a limited extent due to its
service orientation and is therefore one of the most
labour intensive branches of modern industry.
Throughout the world 255 million people are
employed in tourism. However, in many cases only a
small proportion of the profits earned remain in the
country because the majority of the tourism industry
is based in western industrialized countries. This
means that the local welfare effects remain limited.
Furthermore, tourism is heavily dependent on the
economic fluctuations in the home countries of the
tourists, the political situation and the security situation
in the destination countries as well as weather
extremes. Moreover, the holiday regions are increasingly
interchangeable, meaning that demand for a
holiday destination can cave in from one day to the
next.
E 3.7.3
Political initiatives to promote sustainable
tourism
At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), the subject of sustainable
tourism played only a marginal role, with the consequence
that this aspect is only mentioned in passing
in AGENDA 21. Nevertheless, in recent years a number
of political initiatives to promote sustainable
tourism have been introduced.An overview of recent
developments makes it clear that the subject has now
entered the international debate. In particular, discussions
are being held within the context of the
Convention on Biological Diversity on the establishment
of global tourism guidelines (Section 1.3).
Declarations, codes of conduct and action
programmes
In 1995 the International Conference on Environmentally
Sound Tourism was held in Lanzarote – it
was organized by UNEP, UNESCO, the Spanish
Government and the World Tourism Organization
(WTO). In the Charter on Sustainable Tourism
adopted there, 18 general principles are listed, including
the multi-dimensionality of the sustainability
principle (ecological, social, economic, cultural), the
preservation of cultural heritage, the participation of
the actors concerned, special consideration of local
economic cycles, an equitable sharing of benefits, the
development of alternative forms of tourism, possibly
by internalizing the environmental costs and the
development of codes of conduct. In the same year,
the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) produced a worldwide code of conduct for
sustainable tourism for the first time.
Two years later an international conference on the
subject of ‘Biodiversity and Tourism’ was held in
Berlin on a German initiative, in which 24 ministers
(including ministers from developing countries with
especially high levels of tourism) participated. The
‘Berlin Declaration’ adopted there starts out from
the premise that the essential goal of global environment
and development policy cannot be achieved
without the sustainable development of tourism
(Steck et al, 1998). In its content, the ‘Berlin Declaration’
focuses on five main issues: 1. Sustainable
tourism as an instrument for the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity; 2. The need for controlled
tourism development; 3. Special consideration
of protected and buffer zones; 4. The role of the
private sector and voluntary commitments; 5. The
importance of local communities. Generally, the
‘Berlin Declaration’ calls for gradated and regionally
adapted concepts of use. It is therefore emphasized
that nature and biodiversity represent a key resource
base for tourism that must not be overexploited. In
areas where there is already strong pressure on
nature, an additional load should be limited and,
where necessary, avoided. In areas where the carrying
capacity is exceeded by tourism, it should be
brought back in a sustainable direction. Tourism in
protected areas should be regulated so that protection
objectives can be adhered to.
With the help of the Berlin Declaration, which is
not binding under international law and which
mainly serves as a frame of reference for other
tourism initiatives, ongoing processes within the
Convention on Biological Diversity (adoption of
tourism guidelines) and the Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD) should be advanced. At
around the same time the CSD was commissioned by
the Special Session of the UN General Assembly to
submit a measure-oriented international programme
of work on the subject of ‘sustainable tourism’ in
order to minimize the negative impacts of tourism
and to promote its positive contribution to sustainable
development.At the 7th CSD session in 1999, at
which the EU took on a pioneering role, a programme
of work of this kind was adopted, which is to
be evaluated in 2002. Among other things, the governments
were called upon to promote small and