Ecotourism and Carbon Neutrality - Research Paper Example

? Ecotourism and Carbon Neutrality Carbon Neutrality The term carbon neutral describes a situation where an individual, firm, or a nation’s net carbon emissions equal zero (Pizam, 2010). It refers to the requirement that direct and indirect emission from a particular activity minus sequestered carbon and offsets, should total zero (Bose, 2010, pg. 115). Where any fossil fuels have been used anywhere in the supply chain for providing goods or services, the usual means to reach carbon neutrality is through carbon offsets. Carbon offsets involves compensating a certain quantity of carbon dioxide emissions by acquiring or generating carbon credits. For example, a hotel that is accountable for 50 kg of carbon dioxide for every room night sold could buy enough of these credits to offset each room night, thereby making the hotel carbon neutral. The other option could be inducing their guests to buy enough credits to offset their length of stay, thereby making the guest carbon neutral instead. This process is referred to as carbon trading, that is, the process of putting a value on each credit, based on the current market supply and demand. For example, under cap-and-trade regulations, certain industries are required to cap their allowed greenhouse gas emissions at a particular amount, often incorporating a reduction in this allowance over time. Where such industries are not able to reduce their direct emissions to comply with these regulations, they typically go to the trading market to buy carbon credits to make up for the difference (Pizam, 2010). Electricity utilities are frequently among the earliest targets of cap-and-trade regulations and usually pass along any increased cost to their customers, including the energy-intensive hospitality industry. Introduction to Ecotourism and Carbon Neutrality Ecotourism has numerous direct benefits to biodiversity maintenance by creating incentives at the local level for forests reserves, marine and coastal reserves, land concessions and myriad forms of wildlife habitat conservation. Ecotourism also contributes to conservation-enhancing behavior changes among local inhabitants in cases where people are integrated into decision-making (Durham & Stronza, 2008, pg. 265). On top of these direct benefits, there are also indirect contributions in the form of millions of dollars directed to conservation projects from entrance fees, tourist philanthropic donations and ecotourism-operator philanthropy. However if ecotourism wishes to claim environmental bragging rights, it has to do better with regards to carbon usage and climate change. Like most contemporary forms of travel, ecotourism depends heavily on fossil fuel-dependent forms of transportation. This means that responsible travel to natural areas starts out with an environmental debt, especially with regards to the carbon emissions that must be repaid for there to be a net environmental gain. It is imperative that ecotourism incorporates other creative forms of carbon balancing as part of the customary practice, thus reducing its carbon debt from the start. Carbon neutrality is the benchmark in the maturation of ecotourism (Durham & Stronza, 2008, pg. 266). Ecotourism and Carbon Neutrality Increasingly ecotourism has been described to represent or at least encourage sustainable forms of tourism in natural areas. Sustainable tourism is focused on using resources sustainably and reducing over-consumption and waste (Buckley, 2004, pg. 15). Ecotourism is defined as the environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas in order to enjoy and appreciate nature and any accompanying cultural features that promotes conservation, has low visitor impact and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local population (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996, pg. 20; Buckley, 2004, pg. 15). However, travel or mobility are mostly associated with considerable resource use in the form of fossils fuel and it therefore directly challenges the principles set out for sustainable tourism. For ecotourism, a travel component can occur at three distinct scales: first, transport directly associated with the ecotourism travel, for example a boat or bus trip around an ecotourism site, secondly, travel between various eco-tourism sites or operations and thirdly, transport from the home location to the destination, where the ecotourism experience takes place. Each of these travel components of ecotourism is associated with substantial energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This defies the very concept of ecotourism thereby leading to a failure in ecotourism being on the deep green or sustainable side of the nature tourism spectrum. Curbing energy use associated with ecotourism holidays requires reducing travel distances or efficient travel that facilitates clean air, use of water conserving methods such as low-flow plumbing fixtures, use of energy efficient and programmable thermostats in the hotel rooms, waste-reduction criteria and the use of use green cleaning supplies and high efficient air filters. Therefore, a more regional approach, where tourist stays longer in one region can be used reducing constant travel. That is, avoiding the “golden route” and adopting the rule “go slow and savor”, meaning visitors or tourists going to fewer regions, but in greater depth (Anon, 2002, pg. 425) among various other measures. Tourists who stay comparatively immobile in one single resort consume less energy compared with eco-tourists. How Reduce Carbon Emissions in Ecotourism An increasing number of initiatives seek to encourage better practice through providing general tips on how to reduce energy use and emissions. Key options include, reducing the need to travel, this is achieved through linking several single trips to one multipurpose trip, that is, Trip-Chaining. Encouraging tourists to stay longer in one area can also be achieved through attractive packages such as discounts and attraction chaining to avoid constant travelling (Buckley, 2004, pg. 21). There is also the option of increasing transport efficiency, for example through occupancy levels, fuel efficiency, cleaner fuels, driving behavior and vehicle size and offsetting carbon dioxide emissions by investing into renewable energies or tree-planting schemes(carbon sinks). That is, Carbon sequestration, the trapping of carbon dioxide through such mechanisms as planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide through their growing life, and burying the gas cavities below the earth’s surface. However, it is increasingly becoming less popular an option due to the fact that such trees would eventually decompose or be burned, thereby releasing their trapped carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Encouraging tourists to use energy-efficient transport modes. This could involve the use of public transport where the timetable is provided by the hotel, through collective transport such as shuttle bus, attractive tour packages with interpretations, meals enroute and stops at interesting places and promotion of fuel-efficient cars, diesel cars (Buckley, 2004, pg. 21). Other ways of reducing carbon emissions as opposed to buying carbon credits in pursuit of being carbon neutral by tourism destination could be through the use of, encouraging eco-friendly behavior by staff members such as carpooling, minibuses, encouraging public transport or cycling and the combination of guest transport and delivery of supplies and the use of telecommunication. There is also the option of encouraging reduced vehicle use. This will involve promoting walking and biking, and scheduling planned trips to reduce travel distance. Exeplary examples of tourism destinations which have made steps towards Carbon Neutrality in their daily operations include Disney World and the Universal Resorts. Disney World, in addition to ensuring that its hotels are “green” certified properties (greenhotels.com, 2011), it has vouched that throughout the next 10 years it will decrease its greenhouse emissions by half and will decrease its electricity use by 10 percent. Other noble goals towards carbon neutrality that it is undertaking include the cutback of solid waste by 50 percent by the year 2013 (Miller, 2010, pg. 41). Universal resorts in pursuit of being carbon neutral have begun to use alternative fuels in their service vehicles in an attempt to cut down toxic emissions. Moreover, the cooking oil utilized in its restaurants is reprocessed and reused as are the paper and cardboard supplies used throughput the resort. At SeaWorld and its affiliate parks, hydrogen energies fuel shuttles, dinnerware and utensils are produced from vegetable starch and sugarcane. Seafood, even for its animal populations is procured from green and natural fisheries, moreover, it has teamed up with the Rainforest Alliance to guarantee that foods acquired are farmed and harvested in manners that protects and safeguards area wildlife, habitats as well as the people. Approximately 50 percent of the park’s waste (animal, food and construction) is reprocessed and reused again. Guests and residents are urged to recycle while exploring the theme parks thanks to the provision of special bins for the disposal of cans and bottles with others specified for actual trash. Still in pursuit of carbon neutrality, the use of public transportation most notably by Disney World has gone a long way in reducing carbon emissions. It uses a vast range of buses, monorails as well as water taxis, while Universal resorts make use of water taxis and buses. These steps contribute significantly to inducing more cars off the streets, allowing for cleaner air. Additionally, several hotels, including the complete collection of the official Walt Disney world resort as well as all of the Universal Orlando Resorts have endorsed themselves into the Florida green lodge program. This program compels hotels to become more energy efficient and ecologically aware in all areas of operations, from saving water to trimming down unsorted waste and hotels that meet the standard are conferred the standard palm certification. For certification, hotels must abide by a set list of prerequisites such as conservation of water through the use of low-flow plumbing fittings, a linen recycle program and the usage of energy-efficient coupled with programmable thermostats. Additionally, waste-reduction criteria must as well be met. All green lodges must also make use of green cleaning supplies and high efficient air filters. Therefore, the inclusion of Walt Disney and universal Orlando hotels into the green hotels meant they had adhered to the requirements and were therefore carbon neutral. Conclusion In conclusion, ecotourism has been recognized and acclaimed with safeguarding biological and cultural diversity, reducing rural poverty and increasing public consciousness of environmental concerns as well as bolstering ties concerning tourism operators and local population. For this reason, it has increased in popularity with tourists as well as governmental development organizations and conservation agencies. However, for ecotourism to remain viable and appealing into the future, unambiguous and untainted means must be found to make ecotourism carbon neutral or better. References Anon. (2002). Research Shows Visitors Want to Savour. Inside Tourism, 7, 425. Bose, R. K. (2010). Energy Efficient Cities: Assessment Tools And Benchmarking Practices. Washington DC: World Bank Publications. Buckley, R. (2004). Environmental Impacts Of Ecotourism (illustrated ed.). Massachusetts: CABI. Durham, W. H., & Stronza, A. (2008). Ecotourism and Conservation in the Americas (illustrated ed.). Massachusetts: CABI. greenhotels.com. (2011). Greenhotels Member Hotels. Retrieved from Green Hotels Association: http://greenhotels.com/members.php Miller, L. L. (2010). Frommer's Walt Disney World and Orlando 2011. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Pizam, A. (2010). International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management (2, revised ed.). Massachusetts: Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More