Climate change and Global Tourism - Example

Climate change and global tourism Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Abstract This report discussed the international tourism and its impacts on climate and environmental change. The report defined international environment as the movement of people from country to another for recreational activities. The tourist activities mostly happen during vocations. The international tourism has impacted greatly on the climate change. According to this report, the impacts of international tourism on climate change include land degradation, emission of carbon dioxide to the environment and extinction of important species on the environment. The international tourism has also led to increased water sources depletion since the tourism industry overuses water. These impacts have influenced the change of the climate and therefore appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that the climate is sustained. On the other hand, the report discussed that international tourism influences the environmental by biological diversity and depletion of the ozone layer and this leads to environmental change. In this effect, it is predicted that in the next ten years the international tourism is likely to decline due to crisis and disasters like terrorism and climate change which affects the tourist attraction sites. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Discuss the impact of international tourism on climate change 4 Discuss at least one environmental change issues facing the international tourism 6 Predict what impact these issues may have on international tourism over the next 10 years. 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Climate changes have been influenced by tourism activities. This is because through tourism, people move from one place to another just for adventure ad they engage in activities which might pollute the environment. In the recent years, the number of tourists has increased greatly and this means that the activities of tourism influence the environmental stability. Initially, domestic tourism was the most practiced form of tourism but in the recent years, there has been international tourism (Stefan 2002). As a result, appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that the international tourism does not affect the climate adversely. In this regard therefore, this report will discuss the impacts of tourism on climate change and the environmental change issue that faces the international tourism. Discuss the impact of international tourism on climate change International tourism is the context whereby people travel from one place to another either domestically or globally for varied reasons such as recreation, business or adventure (Stefan 2002). In this effect, international tourism is when people travel from one country to another. Climate change is defined as the observed weather patterns over a period of time. In the context of tourism, climate change is defined as the changes in the environment which are brought about by the activities of tourism. There are various environmental issues which are associated with climate change (Bill 1999). The international tourism has affected the climate change globally. The first impact of international tourism is that it has led to degradation of land use and coverage. Most of the tourist attraction features are located along the coastal regions and this means that the land has to be cleared to build accommodation for the tourists (Bill 1999). The coastal regions have effective ecosystems which attract millions of tourists every year. This means that the coastal rain forests have been affected and the animals that depend on the ecosystems have also been affected. In this effect, the rain patterns have been altered due to increasing tourist activities taking place at the coastal regions. For example, the land along the coastal regions gets cleared so as to create space for tourism activities. This affects the ecosystems of the animals that depend on the cleared land. In addition, the international tourism has affected the energy use, which has in turn affected the climate. It is estimated that the energy which is used globally, 85% is fossil fuels. When the fossils have been burnt, they emit carbon dioxide which is harmful to the environment. The emission of carbon dioxide to the environment affects the biosphere. For instance, with the emission of excess carbon dioxide to the environment leads to global warming and this have negative effects on the ecosystems. The most common means of transport which is used by tourists is air transport which is associated with emission of gases into the atmosphere (Stefan 2002). The global warming impact has affected the rain patterns affecting the human life in various ways. In this regard, the international tourism has affected the climate due to use of fossil fuels which are used as a source of and they emit carbon dioxide thus affecting the climate change. The other impact of international tourism on climate change is that the tourism has contributed to biotic extinction as well as the extinction of wild species. There are new species which enter into new environments. In most cases, the new plant and animal specifies which are transported to new environments find it hard to survive. This leads to extinction of plant specifies which in turn affects the environmental ecosystems. However, the transportation of new specifies can also contribute positively to the climate change (Becken & Simmons 2002). For instance, in the coastal regions, the hospitality organizations like hotels often important new species with the aim of improving the flowering of the environment to attract the tourists. As a result, the international tourism activities help to improve the climate change by importing specifies which are beneficial to the local ecosystems which in turn influence the climate changes. This is because there are plant species which help to absorb carbon dioxide. This helps to regulate global warming by minimizing the carbon dioxide emitted into the air. In addition, tourism influences the relationship between the human and environment. Due to international tourism, there is a relationship between the people and the environment and has also influenced the way people perceive the environment. Increased international tourism has helped to improve the perception of the environment and this has provided greater understanding of the people and how they can preserve the environment (Gossling 2000). The impact is that there has been relatively sustainable development which has helped to improve the environmental issues like cutting down trees and also extinction of the indigenous specifies of plants which play important roles in the environment. Furthermore, the water consumption has also been influenced by the international tourism activities. Water is considered as one of the most important resources required for human survival. Increasing international tourism has seen an increase in water consumption in hotels and this means that the water sources are becoming exploited (Gossling 2000). The research that was conducted in Spain indicated that the average of water consumed by each tourist per day was 440l and this value increases when the swimming pools are used. This means that the water sources are likely to become extinct if there is no effective utilization of water sources. Discuss at least one environmental change issues facing the international tourism The loss of biological diversity is another major issue facing the environment due to international tourism. This is the term that is applied to mean different lives on earth and the form of natural patterns which are formed. The impact of tourism on the biological diversity is that it influences the sustainability of people due to decline of food supplies which is as a result of the climate change. In addition, the international tourism affects the ability to deal with disasters and crisis like floods and terrorism due to climate change and degradation of important plant species. Furthermore, the excessive use of land leads to little vegetation because people especially at the coastal regions are clearing land for the tourism activities (United Nations Environment Programme 2014). This has affected the environment in terms of biological diversity. Predict what impact these issues may have on international tourism over the next 10 years. The prediction of the impact of these issues of tourism is that in the next ten years, the tourism activities are likely to decline because the tourist resources are becoming extinct. The natural resource attracting the tourists is likely to be exploited and there will be high environmental pollution (Hoyer 2000). The biological diversity has influenced various ecosystems and if there is no appropriate sustainability program put in place, it is expected that the breeding sites of wild species will be extinct. The animals breeding sites and schedules have been interfered with extensively by tourism in various parts of the world mainly due to constructions of tourism infrastructure. This means a rapid decrease in their populations and in some cases extinction leading to reduced tourists. This implies that there are no tourist attraction features and animals hence the international tourism activities will decline. The same case applies to depletion of ozone layer. This has led to global warming and the effect is that the animal ecosystems will be extinct, thus affecting the reserves of animals and this will affect breeding sites. This is because there is increasingly use of fossil fuels as a source of energy and this has led to increased emission of carbon dioxide to the environment affecting the breeding sites of indigenous animals due to global warming. The end result is interference with the tourist sites, hence there will be few tourists travelling from one place to another. Therefore, it is predicted that over the next ten years there will be decline in tourism activities. Conclusion International tourism is the movement of people from one country to another for recreation and adventure. In the last few years, tourism activities have been reported to be the main income for many economies. However, there are issues which are linked to tourism activities. These activities have influenced the climate change and the environment. This is because through tourism activities, there is emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and also pollution. The environmental issues of the international tourism include biological diversity and depletion of the ozone layer which leads to global warming thus affecting the ecosystems. This implies that global tourism in the next ten years is likely to decline. References Becken, S & Simmons, D 2002, Energy consumption patterns of tourist attractions and activities in New Zealand. Tourism Management, in press. Bill, F 1999, CRC for Sustainable Tourism, crc Sustainable tourism. Gossling, S 2000, Sustainable tourism development in developing countries: some aspects of energy-use. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 410–425. Hoyer, K.G 2000, Sustainable tourism or sustainable mobility? The Norwegian case. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 147–160. Stefan, G 2002, Global environment consequences of tourism, Global environment change, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 283-302. United Nations Environment Programme 2014, Environmental Impacts of Tourism-Global level, retrieved on 12th May 2015 from http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/TheTouris mandEnvironmentProgramme/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/Environ mentalImpacts/EnvironmentalImpactsofTourism-GlobalLevel/tabid/78777/Default.aspx Read More