[Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?

Fri Dec 16 15:26:51 EST 2011

There was an interesting article in Science the other day, raising the question of whether profitable nature films should contribute money to conserve the nature that they photographed and made money off of.  The phrase "ecosystem services" is now frequently used, and can be meant in an economic sense.  Aspects of the environment provide economically beneficial services to humans.  For example, coral reefs provide shoreline protection (without which, expensive shoreline protections would have to be built or there would be very expensive damage to shorelines), food from fisheries (which feed tens or hundreds of millions of people who would be desperate without it), and tourism which provides large amounts of income to many poor tropical countries.  Current thinking in environmental economics is that perhaps those who profit from nature owe some kind of payment in return to help pay the costs of protecting that nature.  Make no mistake, protecting
 nature takes effort and costs money.  Many poor tropical countries with coral reefs do not have adequate funds to protect their reefs.  Exactly how this should work has not been well worked out.  Payers need to know that the money actually goes to protect reefs, not into someone's pocket, so the process has to be transparent.  The Science article considers a number of other important aspects that I for one had not thought of.  So I commend the article to you.  Only the summary is free.  Hopefully your local library has a copy.  Support your local library.  (Clearly what the article talks about applies not just to the media, but to others who profit from nature, like dive tourism, etc.)

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1351.summary

Cheers,   Doug

Douglas Fenner
Coral Reef Monitoring Ecologist
Dept Marine & Wildlife Resources
American Samoa

Mailing address:
PO Box 3730
Pago Pago, AS 96799
USA

work phone 684  633 4456

Communicating the science of climate change (includes a powerful review)
http://physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i10/p48_s1?bypassSSO=1

Scientists sound alarm over Southern Ocean warming, threshold for shell formation may be reached around 2030 instead of 2050 as previously thought
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-29/southern-ocean-waters-warming/3700532

Climate change: high risk of permafrost thaw causing huge methane release
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v480/n7375/full/480032a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20111201

Climate summit faces big emitters' stalling tactics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15894948

Rich nations 'give up' on new climate treaty until 2020
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/20/rich-nations-give-up-climate-treaty

Cold Comfort: Frigid Months Will Still Come in a Warming World
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/11/cold-comfort-frigid-months-will-.html?ref=em&elq=e2655e4e80274b0ca3710f83f4f572c9

Greenhouse gases soar: no signs warming is slowed
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/science/earth/record-jump-in-emissions-in-2010-study-finds.html?_r=2
http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gases-soar-no-signs-warming-slowed-220224145.html

Ex-skeptic tells US Congress climate change is real
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jAHyJV2z4v-2UEOo6bYAFQQaROVw?docId=CNG.87699d35984c3444a0e0ba764eddfb45.7e1

In 2010, a survey of more than 1,000 of the world's most cited and published climate scientists found that 97 percent believe climate change is happening and primarily caused by humans.  Anderegg, W.R.L. et al 2010.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107: 12107.

________________________________
 From: "crdev at singnet.com.sg" <crdev at singnet.com.sg>
To: Monika Franck <monikafranck at email.com> 
Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; Wang Fei <fei.wang at zmt-bremen.de> 
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?

--- Monika Franck <monikafranck at email.com> wrote:

To All,

One means to address the cost of preserving the marine environment would be to place an environmental levy on all recreational diving equipment, underwater cameras and video units and etc.

If the recreational diving manufacturers and retailers profit from these and others items to allow us to visit and document life beneath the sea, then they should take the responsibility to help pay for the restoration and protection of the marine environment.

And yes, the diving organizations should also do their part by also placing an environment levy on each SCUBA diving license 

Charles Rowe

Seacil Artificial Reef creator
> Dear Wang Fei
> 
>  Regarding your email below, I have sent you a previous Coral List
> email by Chad Scott who works on Koh Tao for Save Koh Tao Marine. He
> would be able to give you a lot of information on whether there is a
> difference between eco-dive operators and non eco-dive operators on
> Koh Tao as they work with a lot of dive operators there.
> 
>  Also I think even if coral degradation rate is faster than a system
> informing consumers on which destination is more sustainable to
> support than another, it would still help to raise consumer
> awareness toward sustainable consumerism, and will contribute toward
> work against coral reef degradation.
> 
>  It has to be implemented correctly of course, and to be effective
> consumers still need to be educated and understand what it means,
> just like they have quickly come to understand a five star
> rating/certification of hotels which is also a consumer information
> guide already successfully in practice.
> 
>  I think it would take as long as it takes for all the various
> stakeholders (such as divers, marine scientists, tourism
> industry/agents, hotel owners, local coastal communities,
> governments, sports fishermen.) to agree to an independently audited
> and internationally recognised sustainable coral reef certification
> system that would steer sustainable use of marine resources such as
> a coral reef in this case.
> 
>  Enjoy your PhD; you have picked an interesting one.
> 
>  Best wishes
>  Monika
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wang Fei
> Sent: 12/02/11 05:21 PM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?
> 
>  Hallo Lister: ``Needed is an internationally recognized
> indicator/certification system, similar to the 5 star status system
> of hotels, to enable consumers of coral reef destinations to make
> informed choices`` i agree 100 percent, But ! i am staying on a
> small dive island called Koh Tao in the gulf of Thailand at the
> moment. The plan of my phd study or this visit is too see whether
> ppl do have the preference towards eco-labeled dive schools and if
> there is a difference between eco-dive school divers to non. i
> realize it is easy to say and image rather than apply and control.
> For example, the powerful family or person may control alot local
> business.... their business may get green washed, but really grean?
> i do not say it is unrealistic to achieve this, i just wanna know
> about how and how long many this take, if it is faster then the
> coral's degradation rate.... just show corals around yesterday, it
> was horrible here already. maybe i should google the establish
> history of 5 !
>  star hotel system. by the way, if 
> you are on Koh Tao or you know someone is working on Koh tao, please
> contact me! fei.wang at zmt-bremen.de -- Wang Fei PhD Candidate Leibniz
> Zentrum f黵 Marine Tropen鰇ologie Leibniz Center for Tropical
> Marine Ecology Fahrenheitstr. 8 D-28359 Bremen Germany Tel : (00)49
> - (0)421 - 23800-158 Fax : (00)49 - (0)421 - 23800-30
> email:anita.flohr at zmt-bremen.de web: www.zmt-bremen.de
> _______________________________________________ Coral-List mailing
> list Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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