UNEP Principles of Sustainable Tourism

The proposed Principles cover:

Integration of Tourism into Overall Policy for Sustainable Development

Development of Sustainable Tourism

Management of Tourism

Conditions for Success

1. Integration of Tourism into Overall Policy for Sustainable Development

1.1 National Strategies:

• Ensure that tourism is balanced with broader economic, social and environmental objectives at national and local level by setting out a national tourism strategy that is based on knowledge of environmental and biodiversity resources, and is integrated with national and regional sustainable development plans.
• Establish a national tourism strategy that is updated periodically and a master plan for tourism development and management.
• Integrate conservation of environmental and biodiversity resources into all such strategies and plans.
• Enhance prospects for economic development and employment while maintaining protection of the environment.
• Provide support through policy development and commitment to promote sustainability in tourism and related activities.

1.2 Interagency Coordination and Cooperation:

• Improve the management and development of tourism by ensuring coordination and cooperation between the different agencies, authorities and organisations concerned at all levels, and that their jurisdictions and responsibilities are clearly defined and complement each other.
• Strengthen the coordination of tourism policy, planning development and management at both national and local levels.
• Strengthen the role of local authorities in the management and control of tourism, including providing capacity development for this.
• Ensure that all stakeholders, including government agencies and local planning authorities, are involved in the development and implementation of tourism.
• Maintain a balance with other economic activities and natural resource uses in the area, and take into account all environmental costs and benefits.

1.3 Integrated Management:

• Coordinate the allocation of land uses, and regulate inappropriate activities that damage ecosystems, by strengthening or developing integrated policies and management covering all activities, including Integrated Coastal Zone Management and adoption of an ecosystem approach.
• Maximise economic, social and environmental benefits from tourism and minimise its adverse effects, through effective coordination and management of development
• Adopt integrated management approaches that cover all economic activities in an area, including tourism.
• Use integrated management approaches to carry out restoration programmes effectively in areas that have been damaged or degraded by past activities.

1.4 Reconciling Conflicting Resource Uses:

• Identify and resolve potential or actual conflicts between tourism and other activities over resource use at an early stage. Involve all relevant stakeholders in the development of sound management plans, and provide the organisation, facilities and enforcement capacity required for effective implementation of those management plans.
• Enable different stakeholders in the tourism industry and local communities, organisations and institutions to work alongside each other
• Focus on ways in which different interests can complement each other within a balanced programme for sustainable development.

2 Development of Sustainable Tourism

The Role of Planning

2.1 Planning for Development & Land-use at sub-National Level :

• Conserve the environment, maintain the quality of the visitor experience, and provide benefits for local communities by ensuring that tourism planning is undertaken as part of overall development plans for any area, and that plans for the short-, medium-, and long-term encompass these objectives.
• Incorporate tourism planning with planning for all sectors and development objectives to ensure that the needs of all areas are addressed. (Tourism planning should not be undertaken in isolation.)
• Ensure that plans create and share employment opportunities with local communities.
• Ensure that plans contain a set of development guidelines for the sustainable use of natural resources and land.
• Prevent ad hoc or speculative developments.
• Promote development of a diverse tourism base that is well-integrated with other local economic activities.
• Protect important habitats and conserve biodiversity in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity.

2.2 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA):

• Anticipate environmental impacts by undertaking comprehensive EIAs for all tourism development programmes taking into account cumulative effects from multiple development activities of all types.
• Examine impacts at the regional national and local levels.
• Adopt or amend legislation to ensure that EIAs and the planning process take account of regional factors, if necessary.
• Ensure that project proposals respond to regional development plans and guidelines for sustainable development.

2.3 Planning Measures:

• Ensure that tourism development remains within national and local plans for both tourism and for other types of activity by implementing effective carrying capacity programmes, planning controls and management.
• Introduce measures to control and monitor tour operators, tourism facilities, and tourists in any area.
• Apply economic instruments, such as user fees or bonds.
• Zone of land and marine as an appropriate mechanism to influence the siting and type of tourism development by confining development to specified areas where environmental impact would be minimised.
• Adopt planning measures to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, reduce pollution and the generation of wastes, and promote sound waste management.
• Introduce new or amended planning or related legislation where necessary.

Legislation & Standards

2.4 Legislative Framework:

• Support implementation of sustainable tourism through an effective legislative framework that establishes standards for land use in tourism development, tourism facilities, management and investment in tourism.
• Strengthen institutional frameworks for enforcement of legislation to improve their effectiveness where necessary.
• Standardise legislation and simplify regulations and regulatory structures to improve clarity and remove inconsistencies.
• Strengthen regulations for coastal zone management and the creation of protected areas, both marine and land-based, and their enforcement, as appropriate.
• Provide a flexible legal framework for tourism destinations to develop their own set of rules and regulations applicable within their boundaries to suit the specific circumstances of their local economic, social and environmental situations, while maintaining consistency with overall national and regional objectives and minimum standards.
• Promote a better understanding between stakeholders of their differentiated roles and their shared responsibility to make tourism sustainable.

2.5 Environmental Standards

• Protect the environment by setting clear ambient environmental quality standards, along with targets for reducing pollution from all sectors, including tourism, to achieve these standards, and by preventing development in areas where it would be inappropriate.
• Minimise pollution at source, for example, by waste minimisation, recycling, and appropriate effluent treatment.
• Take into account the need to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases resulting from travel and the tourism industry.

2.6 Regional Standards

• Ensure that tourism and the environment are mutually supportive at a regional level through cooperation and coordination between States, to establish common approaches to incentives, environmental policies, and integrated tourism development planning.
• Adopt overall regional frameworks within which States may wish to jointly set their own targets, incentive and environmental policies, standards and regulations, to maximise benefits from tourism and avoid environmental deterioration from tourism activities.
• Consider regional collaboration for integrated tourism development planning.
• Develop mechanisms for measuring progress, such as indicators for sustainable tourism.
• Develop regional strategies to address transboundary environmental issues, such as marine pollution from shipping and from land-based sources of pollution.

3. Management of Tourism

3.1 Initiatives by Industry

• Ensure long-term commitments and improvements to develop and promote sustainable tourism, through partnerships and voluntary initiatives by all sectors and stakeholders, including initiatives to give local communities a share in the ownership and benefits of tourism.
• Structure initiatives to give all stakeholders a share in the ownership, to maximise their effectiveness.
• Establish clear responsibilities, boundaries and timetables for the success of any initiative.
• As well as global initiatives, encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to also develop and promote their own initiatives for sustainable tourism at a more local level
• Consider integrating initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises within overall business support packages, including access to financing, training and marketing, alongside measures to improve sustainability as well as the quality and diversity of their tourism products.
• Market tourism in a manner consistent with sustainable development of tourism.

3.2 Monitoring

• Ensure consistent monitoring and review of tourism activities to detect problems at an early stage and to enable action to prevent the possibility of more serious damage.
• Establish indicators for measuring the overall progress of tourist areas towards sustainable development.
• Establish institutional and staff capacity for monitoring.
• Monitor the implementation of environmental protection and related measures set out in EIAs, and their effectiveness, taking into account the effectiveness of any ongoing management requirements for the effective operation and maintenance of those measures for protection of areas where tourism activities take place.

3.3 Technology

• Minimise resource use and the generation of pollution and wastes by using and promoting environmentally-sound technologies (ESTs) for tourism and associated infrastructure.
• Develop and implement international agreements which include provisions to assist in the transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs) for the tourism sector, such as the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol for energy-related issues.
• Promote introduction and more widespread use of ESTs by tourism enterprises and public authorities dealing with tourism or related infrastructures, as appropriate, including the use of renewable energy and ESTs for sanitation, water supply, and minimisation of the production of wastes generated by tourism facilities and those brought to port by cruise ships.

3.4 Compliance Mechanisms

• Ensure compliance with development plans, planning conditions, standards and targets for sustainable tourism by providing incentives, monitoring compliance, and enforcement activities where necessary.
• Provide sufficient resources for maintaining compliance, including increasing the number of trained staff able to undertake enforcement activities as part of their duties.
• Monitor environmental conditions and compliance with legislation, regulations, and consent conditions
• Use compliance mechanisms and structured monitoring to help detect problems at an early stage, enabling action to be taken to prevent the possibility of more serious damage.
• Take into account compliance and reporting requirements set out in relevant international agreements.
• Use incentives to encourage good practice, where appropriate.

4. Conditions for Success

4.1 Involvement of Stakeholders

• Increase the long-term success of tourism projects by involving all primary stakeholders, including the local community, the tourism industry, and the government, in the development and implementation of tourism plans.
• Involve all primary stakeholders in the development and implementation of tourism plans, in order to enhance their success. (Projects are most successful where all main stakeholders are involved.)
• Encourage development of partnerships with primary stakeholders to give them ownership shares in projects and a shared responsibility for success.

4.2 Information Exchange

• Raise awareness of sustainable tourism and its implementation by promoting exchange of information between governments and all stakeholders, on best practice for sustainable tourism, and establishment of networks for dialogue on implementation of these Principles ; and promote broad understanding are awareness to strengthen attitudes, values and actions that are compatible with sustainable development.
• Exchange information between governments and all stakeholders, on best practice for sustainable tourism development and management, including information on planning, standards, legislation and enforcement, and of experience gained in implementation of these Principles.
• Use International and regional organisations, including UNEP, can assist with information exchange.
• Encourage development of networks for the exchange of views and information.

4.3 Capacity Building

• Ensure effective implementation of sustainable tourism, and these Principles, through capacity building programmes to develop and strengthen human resources and institutional capacities in government at national and local levels, and amongst local communities; and to integrate environmental and human ecological considerations at all levels.
• Develop and strengthen their human resources and institutional capacities to facilitate the effective implementation of these Principles.
• Transfer know-how and provide training in areas related to sustainability in tourism, such as planning, legal framework, standards setting, administration and regulatory control, and the application of impact assessment and management techniques and procedures to tourism.
• Facilitate the transfer and assimilation of new environmentally-sound, socially acceptable and appropriate technology and know-how.
• Encourage contributions to capacity-building from the local, national, regional and international levels by countries, international organisations, the private sector and tourism industry, and NGOs.
• Encourage assistance from those involved in tourism in countries which have not yet been able to implement sustainability mechanisms in training at the local and national level in the sustainable development of tourism in co-operation with the Governments concerned.

From: http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/policy/principles.htm