TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Suggestions to Text by the Co-Chairmen, 26 February 1999
Prepared by the Tourism Caucus of the
NGO Steering Committee for the
U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development

NGO suggestions in bold

Ad Hoc Inter-Sessional Working Group
of the Commission on Sustainable Development
(New York, 22 February - 5 March 1999)
 
The Commission on Sustainable Development,
 
Recalling the outcome of the Nineteenth Special Session of the General Assembly for the Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of Agenda 21, which requested the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to develop an action-oriented international programme of work on sustainable tourism, to be defined in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization (OMT/WTO), UNCTAD, UNEP, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other relevant bodies; and that the Assembly stressed that policy development and implementation should take place in cooperation with all interested parties, especially with the private sector and local and indigenous communities (A/S-19/29 para. 69),

Recalling also that the United Nations has proclaimed 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism and the International Year of Mountains,

Decides to adopt an international work programme on sustainable tourism development, containing the elements outlined below, to be implemented in the period between the Commission's seventh session and the Earth Summit III in 2002 when the ten-year review of progress achieved since UNCED will be carried out:

1. Calls upon governments to advance sustainable tourism development, inter alia through development and implementation of policies and national strategies or master plans for sustainable tourism development based on Agenda 21 which involve the active participation of all stakeholders in decision making, planning, implementation and monitoring of tourism development; and which will [delete: encourage their tourism industry',] assist in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) which maximises domestic earnings and minimises financial leakages, and appropriate environmentally sound technologies, and also provide focus and direction to all stakeholders, including multistakeholder National Tourism Councils, the private sector as well as local and indigenous communities;

1. (bis) Urges governments to consider the environmental, social and cultural feasibility of tourism, including assessing the carrying capacity of tourism destinations, before developing tourism programmes as part of their national sustainable development strategies for the 2002 review, especially as this relates to local communities and indigenous peoples;

1. (ter) Calls upon Governments to provide legal frameworks to safeguard human rights in tourism particularly with regard to combatting sex tourism, child prostitution, trafficking of children and women and exploitative forms of child labour by introducing and enforcing legislation and effective control mechanisms, and to adopt a global code of ethics for tourism and ensure its implementation and monitoring by all stakeholders;

1. (quart) Calls upon Governments to ensure that all tourism planning and development takes into account the need to prevent human illness, including AIDS, malaria and dengue, and to adopt a precautionary approach, by ensuring permanent access to safe drinking water, sanitation and proper waste disposal for all communities where tourism is developed;

2. Encourages governments to promote a favourable framework within their national sustainable development strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the main engine for job creation in the tourism sector, by reducing administrative burdens, improving access to capital and providing training in management and other skills;

2. (bis) All countries should be encouraged to ratify and implement the International Labor Organizations Conventions 1, 14, 132, 153 and 140 concerning Rest and Paid Leave, as well as giving effect to Recommendation 37 concerning Hours of work in hotels, restaurants and similar establishments;

3. Calls upon tourism industry to work with all stakeholders to develop new forms of socially, culturally and environmentally [delete: compatible] sustainable forms of tourism, [delete: and] to continue the development and use of voluntary initiatives in support of sustainable tourism development and to become actively involved in Local Agenda 21 processes in the communities in which they operate;

4. Invites Governments, major groups, as well as the United Nations system, working through the Inter-Agency Committee for Sustainable Development, in close collaboration with the OMT/WTO, and building on relevant work carried out by UN EP, UNESCO, UNCTAD, ILO, UNDP, WHO, U.N. Regional Commissions, the Convention on Biological Diversity and other relevant organizations, to undertake the following tasks and to keep the CSD informed on progress achieved:

(a) To promote long-term sustainable tourism development that increases the economic [delete: and educational] benefits from the tourism resources and ensures that the host community has an equitable share in those benefits whilst [delete: and] maintaining the cultural and environmental integrity of the location and the host community;

(b) To support national efforts in developing countries and countries with economies in transition towards sustainable tourism development through relevant capacity building activities as well as financial and technical assistance with regard to all aspects of tourism, including education in the field of tourism.  This includes capacity building for relevant stakeholders, in particular indigenous peoples, women and youth, to enable their active participation in planning and decision making processes;

(c) To collect and disseminate information on [delete: best] good practices and techniques, including an appropriate mix of instruments to minimize negative and to promote positive environmental, health, cultural and social impacts from tourism, including air pollution, in developed and developing countries and in countries with economies in transition. This programme could also include the collection of disaggregated data on travel to determine the kinds of visitors to various countries and their needs.  The programme should also proceed to develop criteria for the assessment of good practice;

(d) To promote the exchange of information on [delete: transportation, accommodation and other services,] experience with stakeholder participation and empowerment, public awareness raising programmes and consumer education and various voluntary programmes.  Possible forms of this information exchange should be explored in consultation with [delete: relevant partners] all stakeholders.  Utilisation of means such as trade representations, tourist offices and the Internet should be considered;

(e) To review existing studies and where necessary undertake new studies on appropriate measures for promoting sustainable tourism development and the contribution of sustainable tourism to the eradication of poverty;

(f) To clarifv further the concept and definition of sustainable tourism and of ecotourism;

(g) To develop indicators for sustainable tourism, taking into account the work of OMT/WTO and others, as well as ongoing testing phase of indicators for sustainable development.  Particular emphasis should be placed on gender sensitivity and assessing impacts on indigenous peoples;

(h) To undertake activities that would be mutually supportive to the preparations of the International Year of Ecotourism and International Year of the Mountains, as well as activities of the International Coral Reef Initiative;

(i) To undertake a comprehensive [delete: survey and assessment] of the existing voluntary initiatives and agreements relating to the economic, socio-cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism within the context of the process launched by the Sixth session of the CSD on voluntary initiatives (CSD decision 6/2);

j) To consider establishing a global network to promote an exchange of information and views on [delete: ecotourism] sustainable tourism;

(k) To elaborate, in consultation with Governments the private sector, labour associations, local authorities and other major groups, and taking into account existing guidelines, a comprehensive set of guidelines for sustainable tourism development aimed at ensuring that the development of tourism is consistent with the goals and principles of sustainable development, a draft of which should be presented to the eighth session of the CSD, that could be approved by the United Nations by 2002.  Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of implementation of these guidelines should be reported to the CSD every two years;
 
5. Invites the COP of the CBD to further consider, in the context of the process of the exchange of experiences, existing knowledge and best practice on sustainable tourism development and biological diversity with a view to contributing to international guidelines for activities related to sustainable tourism development in vulnerable terrestrial, inter alia mountain, and marine ecosystems and habitats of major importance for biological diversity and protected areas;

6. Invites the OMT/WTO, World Travel and Tourism Council and the Earth Council as the authors of “Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism” to develop in concert with the process on voluntary initiatives launched by the sixth session of the CSD modalities of assessment, monitoring and reporting to complement the work achieved thus far and to make the results available to CSD.

7. Invites UNEP to promote the adoption of the Aarhus Convention as a global convention upholding public rights to information and participation in matters concerning sustainable development.