Linking Culture and the Environment

R.J. Payne et al. 83
auditing focuses on the system rather than the organization’s impact on the
environment. The stated intention of the standards is to enable organizations
to develop a system comprising steps for managing their environmental
impacts. The advantage of such an approach is that with a certificate of compliance
in hand, organizations are able to assert to customers and to critics alike
that they are exercising environmental care. Business organizations especially
recognize that such certification promises access to important market areas. In
tourism, it is likely that large organizations will be the first to be certified under
the guidelines, although small firms exhibit the flexibility in operations to
make such changes more easily. However, as Font (2002) argues, the ISO 14000
standards have been taken up only by large firms, especially hotels. These
standards have not had the impact of others discussed here.
Behind many of the practical developments in implementing sustainability
are sets of principles that connect theory and action. One such principlebased
initiative, the Charter on Sustainable Tourism, originated at a world
conference on sustainable tourism in 1995. The Charter is composed of 18
principles directed at governments and the tourism industry. Principle 1 states
the relationship between sustainability and tourism concisely:
Tourism development shall be based on criteria of sustainability, which means
that it must be ecologically bearable in the long term, as well as economically
viable, and ethically and socially equitable for local communities.
(World Conference on Sustainable Tourism, 1995, p. 12)
Other principles stress that, for tourism to be sustainable, it must recognize
and support local people and their culture (principle 3), it must be a cooperative
venture (principle 4) and it must be part of an integrated planning and
management system (principle 5). In these principles, all of the actors, including
governments, are charged with responsibility for assuring the sustainability
of tourism. The Charter emphasizes that sustainability in tourism can
be achieved only if tourism operators and governments cooperate with local
people in areas where tourism is well developed or has great potential.
Another principle-based approach, the Bellagio Principles (International
Institute for Sustainable Development, 1997a), does not focus solely on tourism;
rather the principles are aimed more generally at development. However, they
share with the Charter a concern that local people and their concerns be integrated
into decision making. Two principles make this position quite clear:
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Openness: assessment of progress towards sustainability should:
° make the methods and data that are used accessible to all;
° make explicit all judgements, assumptions, and uncertainties in data
and interpretations.
Broad Participation: assessment of progress towards sustainability should:
° obtain broad representation of key grass roots, social, professional and
technical groups to ensure recognition of diverse and changing values;
° ensure decision makers’ participation thus securing a firm link to
decision making and resulting action (International Institute for
Sustain able Development, 1997a).