International Tourism and Climate Change - Coursework Example

International Toursim and Climate Change Student’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submision: Introduction Various human activities that are not conducted in sustainable manner contribute to environmental change through degradation and reduction of environmental quality. One area that has equally exhibited such negative environmental impacts is the international tourism. It is noted that international tourism has possibility of contributing to environmental change especially climate change. Anchored on this realisation, the premise of this paper is to assess and outline how international tourism has contributed to climate change. Moreover, the paper examines other environmental change that might be caused by international tourism and predicts what impact these issues may have on the international tourism over the next ten years. International Tourism Cooper (et al, 2008, p.5) in a simplistic approach, point out that tourism is the non-permanent transit of individuals away from places of employment with leisure being the ultimate premise either at the local or international level. As such, there is the domestic and international tourism. According to Ejgelaar, Peeters & Piket (2008, p.25) international tourism is conceptualised in regard to the inbound and outbound movements. In this regard, international tourism involves movement of individuals away from the usual place of residence for recreational purposes outside the national boundary of their country of origin. On the other hand, Bhatia (2001, p.59-60) observes international tourism entails “travelling outside the normal domicile’ which is ‘outside the boundary of the country’ for gainful engagement that can either be termed as leisure which includes holiday, study, recreation, sport, health & religion; business; meeting; mission and family. In this regard, three parameters are core to the definition of international tourism. The first is place or residence. In this regard, one moves away from the usual place of residence. Second is the geographical setting of the travel which normally occurs on a global or international scale and duration of travel which is normally an extended stay as compared to the domestic travel. International tourism and Environmental Change Owing to the utilisation of natural resources and ecological services at large by human beings in the pursuit of modernisation goals such as industrialisation, transport, agriculture & built environment, various environmental issues have arose with one of them being environmental change (Weart, 2008, p. 138 & 155). Environmental change is conceptualised as the deterioration of environmental quality as result of human activities that inject substances that interferes with the normalcy of the environment. The deterioration or degradation of environmental quality can be as a result of pollution as a result of emission of harmful substances into the environment (land, air & water) such as lead, carbon & nuclear waste; clearance of the natural environment such as deforestation for settlement & agricultural purposes. Others include environmental issues such as global warming & climate change, ozone layer depletion, desertification, extinction of species & diversity concerns and depletion of natural resources (Mitchell, 2009, p.25). While tourism industry constitutes a significant portion of economic growth and development, equally it has raised sustainability issues in regard to its role in environmental change. Shaw & Williams (1994, xii) indicates that tourism industry has significantly experienced phenomenal growth in the past 50 years and has contributed to employment in millions and offered a platform for accessing pleasure. Nevertheless, while it has those sterling contributions, it has equally contributed to negative aspects with one of them being environmental degradation. For instance, it has contributed to the destruction of pristine environments and devaluation of the critical that constituted to the desirability of the place as tourist attraction. Cunha & Cravidão (1997, p.2-3) using case study of Central Portugal equally established that tourist activity significantly contributes to environmental changes in urban and rural spaces. According to them, the environmental changes associated with tourism activity are a function of the fact that most of these activities are located in zones that are physically and ecologically fragile. For instance, tourist activity attracts more population which might not be beneficial to environment as it leads to development of built environment and clearance of vegetation. For example, in 1991, the population at S. Pedro de Muel was 267, but in August it had rose to 15, 000. These experiences have an impact on ecological reserves in a two pronged platform. The first is the interior impact that contributes to land use change as individuals are forced to convert lands into built up environment. Secondly, it contributes to destruction of coastlines such as dune ridge therefore making the costal ecological system unable to regulate itself. International Tourism and Climate Change There has been observation that global temperatures has been gradually rising owing to atmospheric pollution as a result of human activities (Moore, 1995, p. 2, 3, 4 & 5). Climate change concept is premised on the global warming experience that is as a result of emission of green house gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrous oxide and methane. The process is necessitated when these green house gases trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere. Consequently, this cause a temperature rise, as the heat cannot escape back (Maslin, 2007, p. 9). Climate change is exhibited by increasing global temperatures leading to thawing of glaciers; erratic and predictable weather patterns such as rainfall seasons. For instance, in100 years, the global average temperature rose by 0.8 degrees centigrade, with the rapid phenomenal change being in the last three decades. Climate projections equally posits that in the 21st century the rise in temperature will be from 1.1 to 2.9 degrees centigrade for low cases scenarios and from 2.4 to 6.4 degrees centigrade for extreme upper cases (Maslin, 2009). In regard to climate change, the nexus between climate change and international tourism falls within the fact that tourism industry is responsible for emission of various green house gases that are responsible for global warming and thus, climate change. For instance, Carbon Dioxide which is one of the green house gases is emitted from tourism industry as a result of heating, cooling, washing and cooking processes associated with the industry. Moreover, tourism sector is a principal consumer of energy in regard to transportation of tourists from one attraction site to other. Equally it is a major consumer of energy in regard to operation of bars, discos and restaurants (Peeters, 2007, p.1). According to Peeters (2007, p.3) in regard to international tourism, the three segment that highly contributes to green house gases are the transport, activities/ local transport and accommodation (See figure 1 below). The most critical impact is from transport sector under aviation industry that constitutes 89% of green house gases emission. Therefore, tourism transport is the chief causative agent in climate change within the international tourism industry. This is followed by accommodation that accounts for 8%. This is mostly as a result of heating, cooling, cooking and lighting activities. Finally, local transport activities contribute to 3% of green house gases. Figure 1: World tourism GHG emissions per tourism element Source: Peeters, 2007, p.3 Other Environmental Change: Reduction of Vegetation Cover Tourism as an activity has massive impact on various aspects of the environment. The realisation is that international tourism has a direct and ripples effect on the natural environment. In this regard, it is prudent to contextualise the discussion into two perspective. The first one is the paradigm anchored on non-nature based tourism and nature based tourism. For instance, non-nature based tourism and even to a given extent if not well planned nature based tourism tends to attract other activities which might not be compatible with the aspirations of sustainable development therefore leading to environmental degradation and thus, environmental change. For instance, non-nature based tourism are major consumers of land in form of creation of built environment. This leads to clearance/ reduction of vegetation cover. The role of international tourism in environmental change can be manifested in ‘deterioration and decline of vegetation and natural forest’ (Yahiya, 2012, p.427). For instance, Yahiya (2012, p.426) found out that in Jazan tourism had greatly impacted on vegetation cover as sites were cleared to pave for built environment activities. In his findings, he established that in 1987 the total area of vegetation was 1, 080.387 km2 yet in 2002 this had shrunk to 586.742 km2. This constricting vegetation cover in Jazan region is case example of how tourism significantly alters vegetation and geomorphologic structure of an area since in 1987 the vegetation cover represented 8% yet in 2002 it was a paltry 4.3%. Such scenarios are paths toward desertification & drought in the region and thus, environmental change. Predicted Impact Peeters (2007, p.1) notes that the relationship between climate change and tourism is a cyclic one as it presents a two-fold domain where tourism impacts climate and climate change impacts on tourism. The impact these identified issues might have on international tourism lies on the reverse experience where the resulting climate change having a negative impact on the tourism industry. The impact to be felt is mostly limited to those leisure activities that are reliant on nature. For instance, with the thawing of ice, tourists will not be able to enjoy ice skating in natural settings such as Alps. With rising temperatures and inconsistent rain patterns, desertification is likely and this is likely to reduce animal population surviving in their natural setting therefore impacting on safari tourism/ nature walks. Sea rise is likely to affect popular coastal cities such as Maldives. Thus, light outdoor activities, fresh water tourism and winter sport tourism are likely to be affected (Hamilton & Tol, 2004; Burakowski & Magnusson, 2002). Conclusion The aim of the discourse was to establish the impact of international tourism on environmental change, climate change, other environmental impacts and projected possible impacts. The paper found out that tourism industry contributes to environmental change owing to emission of substances that contribute to degradation of environmental quality and diversity concerns. Secondly the paper found out that tourism industry contributes to climate change owing to emission of green houses gases owing to factors such as tourism transportation. Thirdly, the paper established that international tourism contributes to clearance of vegetation cover to pave way for the built environment. Finally, it was projected that the future impact of these issues on tourism is the destruction of the natural scenes that attract the same tourist. These include ice formations such as Alps. References Bhatia, A. K. (2001). International tourism management. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers. Burakowski, E., & Magnusson, M. (2012). Climate impacts on the winter tourism economy in the United States. Natural Resources Defense Council. Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D. & Wanhill, S. (2008). Tourism, Principles and practice. Essex: Pearson Prentice Hall. Cunha, L., & Cravidão, F. (1997). Tourism and environmental degradation on the west coast of Portugal. Ejgelaar, E., Peeters, P., & Piket, P. (2008). Domestic and International Tourism in a Globalized World. documento presentado en Research Committee RC50l International Sociological Association Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, noviembre, 24-26. Hamilton, J. M., & Tol, R. S. (2004). The impact of climate change on tourism and recreation. Human-Induced Climate Change-An Interdisciplinary Assessment, 147-155. Maslin, M. (2009). Global warming: a very short introduction. 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