1Tgjonb

The Guidelines require that there should be a review of legislation and control measures, and their effectiveness,to identify any need to strengthen their use, including the introduction of new instrumentswhere necessary.6.1 The range of instruments to useA range of instruments can be used to address allaspects of the impact of tourism on biodiversity. Instrumentscan be used to influence biodiversity impactsthat may be direct, such as destruction of habitatresulting from development, or indirect, such asinefficient energy or water use leading to resourcedepletion and climate change.Reference to legislation at this point in the Guidelinesis essentially about the existence and use ofenforceable regulations backed by legislation. Themain additional types of instrument are commonlygrouped under the headings of voluntary oreconomic instruments, while others may relate tomeasurement and monitoring processes and supportivemanagement activity. 53The application of regulatory, voluntary and economicinstruments is considered further below. Ongoingmanagement and mitigation activity, whichmay involve practical application of some of theseinstruments, is covered further in Section 8. Monitoringand supportive processes are mainly addressedin Section 9 and Section 10 respectively. 54While any of the instruments may be used on theirown, they can often be more effective if used incombination. An example is the use of economicinstruments to encourage the take up of voluntaryprocesses.6.2 Regulations and their enforcementA primary use of regulations to influence tourismimpact is in the process for land use planning andcontrol that requires prior approval to be grantedbefore any new development or change of usecan take place. All areas of vulnerable biodiversityshould be covered by such a process. Requirementsfor notification of development, impact assessmentand decisions on granting approval are looked atfurther in Section 7.The detail of individual developments may be addressedthrough a local planning process, often includingminimum standards for siting and designyet most often not including biodiversity concerns.For biodiversity, additional requirements may beneeded, particularly in restricted land-use categories.These should include particular requirementsfor minimising environmental impact during theconstruction process and for the decommissioningof buildings. Such regulations should apply to alluses not only tourism.Regulations based on minimum standards shouldalso be applied to certain aspects of the operationof tourism businesses. Waste management and effluentcontrol, for example, is particularly importantfor reducing damage to habitats, in all locations butespecially in coastal and wetland environments.In some situations it may be appropriate to controlvisitor movements and activities through regulation.They may be used, for example, to restrictthe amount or timing of access to certain sites, orto control visitor activities or behaviour through theestablishment of enforceable bylaws, such as proceduresfor diving on sensitive reefs.Abandoned ruins of a resort, French Polynesia,2011 – Regulations for the decommissioning ofbuildings should cover restoration of sites.Credit: Michael R Perry (www.flickr.com/photos/michaelrperry).A major challenge for the use of regulatory instrumentshas proved to be their enforcement, which isoften weak and in some countries is severely hamperedby lack of commitment, external influencesor insufficient capacity for inspection. This underlinesthe need for a full and transparent review, asrequired by the Guidelines.28 Tourism Supporting Biodiversity