Seminar on "How Sustainable Tourism can benefit and contribute to an emerging Green Economy in Africa?"
Within the context of the Green Economy Initiative launched by the United Nations in 2008, UNWTO has introduced tourism as one of the main sectors that stands to benefit from greener policies and that at the same time can contribute to the goals of the Initiative. A major components of this process is the Green Economy Report which makes a case for, and provide guidance on, investing in specific environmentally significant sectors as medium and long term economic strategy.
The Green Economy is defined as an economy that results in improved human well being and reduced inequalities over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological scarcities. This concept therefore also embraces social and economic aspects.
The seminar will introduce the main findings of the research on tourism as a green economy sector, highlight the main challenges and opportunities facing the public and private sector, and present a model which assumes green investment scenarios. Specific areas where UNWTO has undertaken recent research will be also presented, such as the interrelations of tourism with climate change, biodiversity and heritage. Ongoing projects in Africa combining environmental sustainability with poverty reduction will be presented and discussed with a view to replicate them and to spread their positive results.
