3rd Philippine International Tourism Fair
Forum on Green Tourism
June 27, 2009
Cebu City
Paper by: Ditchay Roxas
Concerned Citizen
20% of the world's population consumes 80% of the
planet's resources
5,000 people die every day because of polluted
drinking water.
1 billion
humans have no access to
safe drinking water
1 billion people are going hungry
Over 50% of grain traded around the world is used
for animal feed or biofuels
40% of arable land is degraded
Every year, 13 million hectares of forest disappear
1 mammal in 4, 1 bird in 8, 1 amphibian in 3 are
threatened with extinction. Species are dying out
1,000 times faster than the natural rate
75% of the world's fishing grounds are exhausted,
depleted or in danger of being so
The average temperature of the last 15 years has
been the highest since records began
The ice cap is 40% thinner than 40 years ago
There could be 200 million climate refugees by 2050
Those are just some of the facts taken from watching the film
'HOME', culled from various reliable sources like the United
Nations Environment Program, the FAO, NASA and other
scientific bodies.
In the last 5 decades the Philippines has lost 2/3 of its forest
cover, one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. Only
5% of Philippine Coral reefs are in good condition according to
reef check. In Palawan where I live, the Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development says that only 2.8 % of Palawan
reefs are in excellent condition. These are more facts.
Green tourism, eco tourism, responsible tourism, sustainable
tourism, eco resorts, eco lodge, eco center, new paradise.
Those are words.
But do those words have any more meaning, if you weigh them
against the weight of those facts? Can those words mean
something else other than a marketing tool to capture a new
public trend?
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for allowing
me the honor of addressing you, the noblesse of the tourism
industry, today during the Third International Tourism Fair's
Seminar and Educational Forum on Green Tourism vis-a-vis
Climate Change. Thank you too to the secretariat for inviting
me and believing that I have something interesting to say.
Eco-tourists or Green Tourists are an emerging market at the
present, green or eco tourism establishments are a developing
product. But soon, maybe sooner than we think, they may be a
major market and the only products -- out of necessity.
I am neither a scientist nor an expert, I am just a concerned
citizen, an advocate for the environment and a tourism
practitioner as well, who has been living with nature for the
past 20 years, give or take a few months of each year. I have
my home on an island in Palawan called Boayan where I share
a habitat with the creatures who were there before me, the
creatures who are responsible for maintaining the fragile
equilibrium of that habitat. Creatures who are important for the
wholistic health of our planet whether we realize it or not. We
have been fighting for years to try to protect that habitat.
It is also from my home that I have seen the rapid degradation
of the environment, the suffering of nature. Where I have seen
the lushness of the forests go up in smoke due to poverty,
necessity, and yes, sad to say, even ignorance and greed. I
have seen reefs being blasted and poisoned for the same
reasons, I have seen untrained fishermen diving the seas at
night with their hookahs and lights taking everything alive that
can be eaten or sold, sometimes going to depths of over a
hundred feet at the risk of the bends, also for the same
reasons,
It is also from my home on the island where I actually felt the
first effects of climate change and global warming. I have seen
the beach front diminishing beacause the seas are rising, coral
bleaching from the elevated temperatures of the El Niño, and
storm surges attacking my house.
I will read to you another grim story, an article that came out
last month, the 20th of May 2009 in a British newspaper which
sums up a long report that came out of MIT.
Global temperatures could rise by more than 7°C this
century killing billions of people and leaving the world on
the brink of total collapse, according to new research.
The study, carried out in unprecedented detail, projected
that without 'rapid massive action' temperatures worldwide
will increase by as much as 7.4°C by [the year] 2100, from
levels seen in [the year] 2000.
Previous estimates have concluded that the likely increase
this century would probably be 2.4°C. However the new
study by scientists at the prestigious Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) included projected economic
growth in developing countries and new information on the
effect increased carbon emissions will have on biological
processes, such as the capacity of the ocean to absorb
greenhouse gases.
The results are based on 400 trials of the new system,
each time using slightly different variations in data at the
start, to try and iron out errors.
Co-author of the study, Ronald Prinn, Professor of
Atmospheric Chemistry and director of MIT's Center for
Global Climate Change, said all the results resulted in an
increase in temperatures.
The projections average out a likely Earth temperature
increase of 5.2°C this century, and conclude there is a
90% chance the temperature change will be between 3.5°
and 7.4°C.
"There is significantly more risk than we previously
expected," he said.
"This increases the urgency for significant policy
action. There is no way the world can and should
take these risks."
Environmentalists are screaming catastrophe! Scientists are
screaming catastrophe!
They are calling "for the world to try and reduce the
chance of such an increase in temperatures by committing
to reduce carbon emissions at the UN Climate Change
Conference in Copenhagen at the end of this year.
"The consequences of such changes would be [out of] the
known scale. They are unthinkable," .
"A 7.4°C rise would mean severe ecosystem collapse
worldwide, with total economic collapse in many parts of
the world.
"The planet would face resource wars between people, and
you can safely say many, many hundreds of millions of
people would die," they said.
This sounds apocalyptic doesn't it? Like doomsday is about to
descend on us, but only if we allow it to.
2500 leading environmental experts held an emergency climate
summit last March, "they agreed that "worst case scenarios"
were already becoming a reality, so drastic action had to be
taken soon. Addressing the statement directly to politicians,
they said there "was no excuse for inaction", "steps should be
vigorously and widely implemented to reduce greenhouse
gases. Failure to do so would result in "significant risk of
irreversible climatic shifts".
So if we heed the pleas of the scientists, the experts on climate
change and global warming, then we can still do something
about it, we still have the chance to lessen the rise in
temperature and decrease the impacts of global warming, but
it has to be the concerted effort of each individual, each sector
of society as well as governments and international bodies
working together to make and implement policies that will
reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the world, and hopefully
stem the progression of global warming. In another urgent
plea, this time made by Prince Charles, he said we have "less
than 100 months" to save our planet.
(Taken from an article published by Richard Alleyne, Science
Correspondent in Copenhagen)
If that is true, then we do not even have 10 years, that's
tomorrow. Statistically, most of us in this room will still be
alive! If we are to believe the Prince of Wales, it is more than
an urgent matter.
So what is our role in the Tourism Industry given the context of
this whole doomsday scenario? Do we just sit back and keep
the ball rolling, hoping that the number of pax will not
diminish? Do we keep on planning and developing using old
models, strategizing using frameworks from the past?
In the stock market they say: "Past performance is no
indication of future gains." In other words, what has worked or
succeeded in the past in terms of tourism development may no
longer be applicable in the present context given the forecasts
for the future. A good example of this may be Boracay, one of
our biggest financial success stories, the most popular tourist
destination in the country, which the environment is now
paying for. The stakeholders and the government are
scrambling around trying to correct the mistakes while still
more developers try to cash in on the success of Boracay.
Already we have far exceeded the carrying capacity of the
island and yet development continues. So despite the present
financial gains, it does not mean we should create other
Boracays does it? Don't get me wrong, it is not development
per se, but the type of development.
Ronald Prinn, one of the main scientists behind the MIT study
said, "Because vehicles last for years, and buildings and
powerplants last for decades, it is essential to start making
major changes... The least-cost option to lower the risk is to
start now and steadily transform the global energy system over
the coming decades to low or zero greenhouse gasemitting
technologies."
Again, what does this mean for the tourism industry? How do
we build? Large scale or small scale? With what materials?
Where will our energy source come from? What appliances?
Where will supplies come from? Who will be our workforce?
One of the questions I was asked to tackle by the PITF
secretariat was, "Why do people turn to green tourism?" when
now the question is, "Why should people turn to green
tourism?" with a policy statement, "All tourism should go
green!" It becomes a duty and an obligation as responsible
practitioners. Does that sound drastic? It is. At this point in
time, if we are to listen to all the experts, as we should, I do
not really think we have a choice, do you?
It's not just the market asking for it, as more and more people
look for eco-destinations, search the internet for
establishments that are labelled green or eco-friendly, all the
market trends show it. We don't have to cite the numbers. It's
Mother Nature demanding that we act now. Global warming is
a reality, climate change is upon us: season's are
unpredictable, typhoons are hitting further south, rivers are
drying up causing droughts in numerous places, while flooding
has become commonplace in areas that didn't flood before, the
oceans are not absorbing as much carbon dioxide as they used
to, sea levels are rising, permanent glaciers are disappearing,
the ice cap is melting, and so on and so forth. This is all
happening now, not in 2050, by then it will be too late!
In the midst of climate change, all these facts we are being
bombarded with, where do we see the future of tourism? We
are one of the largest industries in the world, many economies
and jobs depend on tourism, do we just stop and let the
doomsday predictions overcome us? No, we adapt and we are
adapting, we put substance into those words green,
sustainable, responsible, ecological, environmental.
Travel predictions all show that the cost of air travel will only
go up meaning long haul flights will be minimized. Tourists will
pick and choose where they go and why they go. Already we
see a rise in local tourists, Filipinos visiting the Philippines,
Asians visiting Asia. This phenomenon will only increase with
the inevitable surge in the price of fuel. The advent of peak oil
is no longer a question, it is a certainty. Whether it is now or
later does not change the problem of an increase in demand for
oil and a decrease in fossil resources.
People are looking to destinations that are distinct in their local
culture and traditions, destinations with a social responsibility.
More and more, supplies will be sourced locally as the costs of
importations will go up with the cost of travel. Carbon
footprints of establishments will be measured and weighed
against the costs.
Alternative transportation will be developed and slow travel the
trend.
I quote Justin Francis, "Smart destinations will no longer just
pursue more tourists per se. Instead they will focus more on
types of tourists they need and matching these to the most
suitable areas and communities within their county. As a result,
economic benefits will be maximized, while social and
environmental costs are kept to a minimum."
These are the trends: quality and sustainability versus
quantity, solidarity versus walls.
Once again I quote the film HOME,
"Must we always build walls to brake the chains of
human solidarity, separate peoples and protect the
happiness of some from the misery of others? It is too
late to be a pessimist."
Public awareness of reality is rising and will climax so that we
in the tourism industry have to urgently decide, can the
industry take a leadership role in facing these realities or will
we collapse?
THAT IS THE CHALLENGE WE POSE TO OURSELVES!