On May 29, the "International Mountain Tourism Day (IMTD) 2024" Theme Event was successfully held in Nice, the capital city of the French department of Alpes-Maritimes, France. Representatives of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in France, the French cultural and tourism authorities, representatives of local government, representatives of international organizations, members of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), tourism agencies, tourism enterprises, industry experts, and media gathered together to discuss and revolve around the theme of "Mutual Understanding among People through Mountain Tourism" and the forum theme "Mountain Tourism Destinations Responding to Climate Change". The rich exchange activities highlight and promote the development concept of mutual learning among civilizations, driving innovation in the "Mountain Tourism+" model.
Geoffrey Lipman, former CEO of WTTC and former UNWTO assistant Secretary-general presented at "International Mountain Tourism Day 2024" Theme Forum and made a keynote speech headlined "Climate Realities- Time to fix the Holes in the Net":
I am delighted by the invitation from my old friend Francesco Frangialli to contribute some thoughts on Climate Change to this International Mountain Tourism Forum.
Francesco was the first tourism leader to put both Climate Change and Mountains on the Global Tourism Agenda. Appropriately convening the first “Summits” on both issues, when he served as Secretary General at UNWTO, and I was Assistant Secretary General, some 2 decades ago.
I am particularly pleased that this session is linked with China, which another old friend and mentor, the late Maurice Strong, father of sustainable development, firmly believed would play a key role in the fundamental global response to the eXistential Climate Crisis. And as the UN Secretary General keeps reminding us that crisis is a code red for humanity.
The Himalayas in Nepal, taken by Chie Suzuki
Dr Johnson famously said “there is nothing so concentrates the mind as being hanged on the morrow”. Well, humanity is being hanged on the morrow.
The warning signals are everywhere:
·It’s the wildfires from Maui to Sydney
·It’s the floods in Libya and Dubai
·It’s the crazy air pollution in New York and Beijing
·It’s the waves lapping at hotels In the Pacific and Indian Oceans
·It’s the summer peaks becoming too hot to handle in the Mediterranean
·It’s the Caribbean hurricanes coming harder and more often
·It’s the intensifying droughts killing off agriculture and dramatically increasing climate refugees in Africa
And for you here today, it’s the uncertain snow patterns, rock falls and glacier melts in Mountains across the planet.
Aconcagua Peak, Argentina
It’s not just at Tourism destinations. Origin markets are also hit. Making traditionally predictable traffic patterns truly unpredictable.
And all this is without the global tipping points of melting ice sheets at both poles and thawing Tundra across the vast reaches of Siberia releasing Covid style viruses that have been trapped for millions of years.
This is the new reality. And if you have built your entire lifestyle and economy on those traditional patterns, it’s time to think about big change. And to think fast.
Dr. Johnson’s morrow is here today. “Our world is screaming out for Climate Action NOW - not just by 2030 or 2050.＂
Our Kids are demanding this - taking countries to court & flight shaming (a phenomenon that blames air travel for its negative impact on the environment and encourages people to choose more environmentally friendly modes of transportation) .
Even more significantly - so are the Climate Scientists - IPCC says to peak GHG emissions by 2025 to have any chance of hitting close to Paris 1.5 by 2050. The temperature where life, as we know it, stays liveable. We are on track for 2.5 to 4 degrees.
And at those levels the future of humanity is truly on the line. Tourism is in the the spotlight, perhaps more than any other sector. Until now weather has been our most predictable component. All that is changed.
We are poised like lemmings at the top of the cliff – staring into the abyss into which we are preparing to hurl ourselves. Net Zero is a communal sleeping pill – letting us relax for business as usual today and push tomorrow off the real world agenda. We are deluding ourselves with declarations, and social media trumpeted self-promotion, fuelled by big bucks from big business and big government subsidies to stay in power. Rearranging Deckchairs on the Titanic - as the iceberg gets closer and closer.
Mount Elbrus, Russia
And for Mountain Tourism it’s a massive disaster scenario:
·with winter snow no longer certain for skiing
·with freak storms ther new norm
·with expensive plant and infrastructure lying unused
·with summer trails held hostage to rock falls & route destruction
Hopefully, it’s not too late to come to our senses
At SUNx - a legacy for Maurice Strong we are fighting to help accelerate tourism’s response. Turning education into action.
Building a framework of Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) - Paris 1.5: SDG linked and Nature positive
·first to help adapt to the new climate reality and
·second to help peak GHG sooner rather than later.
First Adaptation - simply to cope with the extreme weather and the death and destruction it is already bringing.
Second Mitigation - GHG reduction to play our part in controlling global warming.
Our focus is the worlds poorest countries and small islands - LDC and SIDS in UN speak. Countries who are the most exposed to the crisis And for whom Tourism is still the best chance for a decent development pathway.
Seaside Landscape, Sri Lanka
Over the past four years, with great support from the Malta Tourism Authority, we have:
·Created the world’s first CFT post graduate. Diploma and trained nearly 100 Students from all over the world - to be Strong Climate Champions. Thoughtful activists and Change leaders.
·Established a global CFT Registry for Climate Action for companies and communities to frame Climate Action Plans - 500 from around the world and counting.
·Launched social enterprises to help strengthen the virtuous circle of Climate Friendly Travel Communities, Companies and Consumers.
·Established 50 National CFT Chapters to build Climate Friendly Travel. With another 50 planned this year. All in LCD and SIDS.
We take this action for our Kids. We take it now and we are ready to collaborate anywhere, anytime to co-create a greener and cleaner future.
Let me close with one relevant thought for all of us. Of all the disasters forseen on the horizon, none is more universally dangerous than if we bury our heads in the sand and leave the future in the hands of climate change deniers or status quo apologists.
More than ever before we need honourable clear minded realists who are committed to building the precautionary principle into our shared future. And who genuinely care about our grandkids.
Text and photos source: IMTA
Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen
Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan
Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong
