Promoting Sustainable Tourism
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the business volume that tourism is generating today equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles. A primary goal of our work in sustainable development has been to ensure that tourism protects and sustains the world’s natural and cultural resources and meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation.
WORLD HERITAGE ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM & FRIENDS OF WORLD HERITAGE
From 2005 to 2010, we teamed up with Expedia, Inc. and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre to change the travel industry through the World Heritage Alliance for Sustainable Tourism.
We have worked on the industry side to support:
- conservation;
- sustainable tourism; and
- economic growth for communities in and around World Heritage sites.
We've done this by educating the traveling public through our Friends of World Heritage campaign and by creating sustainable tourism best practices for investors and vendors.
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM CRITERIA
Best practices don’t go very far unless others take that model and implement it.
We have partnered with a coalition of 32 organizations from the tourism industry, the UN and conservation communities to develop standards for sustainable tourism businesses. These standards will be the minimum that any tourism business can follow, or that certification programs can be based on to preserve and protect travel destinations for the future.
The first-ever global sustainable tourism criteria were announced at the World Conservation Congress on October 6, 2008. Read the press release here.
The Partnership was initiated by the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Click here to see the full list of partners.
For more information go to http://www.sustainabletourismcriteria.org/
TOURISM SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL
If not run properly, tourism can be a damaging industry: Rapid development can overwhelm natural areas with pollution, disturbing wildlife and once-isolated cultures.
However, certification can address the impacts of tourism by ensuring that tourism businesses comply with standards to protect wildlife and indigenous communities.
The Tourism Sustainability Council (TSC), an initiative of the UN Foundation, UNEP, the UN World Tourism Organization, the Rainforest Alliance and others, uses the global baseline criteria to develop an accreditation standard for sustainable tourism certification programs. The TSC will be the umbrella under which the certification programs will sit.
STORIES OF IMPACT
The Galapagos Islands - Biodiversity on the Brink
Area of Involvement: Sustainable Development
Many of us first read about the Galápagos Islands in a high school biology text book. Charles Darwin's famous theory of evolution was inspired by his visit to one of the largest, most complex, most diverse, and best preserved ocean archipelagos on earth. Because of its outstanding and universal value, the Galápagos Islands were fittingly designated as our planet's first World Heritage site in 1978.
Rebuilding lives and livelihoods in Mexico
Area of Involvement: Sustainable Development
When a category 5 hurricane devastated the mostly Mayan community of Sian Ka'an, Mexico, we appealed to our supporters and partners. The response was overwhelming to help rebuild this World Heritage site.
RESOURCES
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Celebrate, Innovate and Sustain: Toward 2015 and Beyond - The United States' Strategy for Meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals
Issue Area: Children’s Health
Issue Area: Climate & Energy
Issue Area: Sustainable Development
Issue Area: Technology
Issue Area: UN-US Relations
Issue Area: Women & Population
Obama Administration officials unveiled the U.S. Government’s strategy for advancing the Millennium Development Goals on July 30, 2010, with an emphasis on innovative and sustainable approaches to the world’s most urgent challenges, during a high-level working session hosted by the United Nations Foundation.
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UN Foundation Newsletter (Fall 2009)
Issue Area: Children’s Health
Issue Area: Climate & Energy
Issue Area: Sustainable Development
Issue Area: Technology
Issue Area: UN-US Relations
Issue Area: Women & Population
A semi-annual newsletter highlighting the UN Foundation's programs and people.
