IMTF: Mountain Tourism on the Brink
Nice, France, BTNp: PROFESSOR Geoffrey Lipman, President of SUNx Malta, delivered speech at the International Mountain Tourism Forum, highlighting the urgent need for climate action in the mountain tourism sector. The session, linked with China, underlined the critical role the country will play in the global response to the existential climate crisis.
Lipman pointed out that the warning signs of the climate crisis are evident in the increasing frequency, and severity of wildfires, floods, air pollution, uncertain snow patterns, rock falls, and glacier melts affecting mountain tourism destinations worldwide. He stressed the crisis is affecting not only tourism destinations but also origin markets, making traditionally predictable traffic patterns unpredictable.
Quoting Dr. Johnson’s famous saying, “There is nothing so concentrates the mind as being hanged on the morrow,” Lipman emphasized that humanity is facing an imminent threat, and the tourism industry must take immediate action. He highlighted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s recommendation to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 to have any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by 2050.
SUNx Malta’s initiatives, supported by the Malta Tourism Authority, focus on the world’s poorest countries and small islands, which are the most exposed to the climate crisis. These initiatives include:
Creating the world’s first Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) post-graduate Diploma & training nearly 100 students from around the world to become Strong Climate Champions and change leaders.
Establishing a global CFT Registry for Climate Action, with over 500 companies and communities from around the world framing Climate Action Plans.
Launching social enterprises to strengthen the virtuous circle of Climate Friendly Travel Communities, Companies, and Consumers.
Establishing 50 National CFT Chapters to build Climate Friendly Travel, with plans for another 50 this year, all in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Massive Disaster
Lipman warned that the mountain tourism sector faces a massive disaster scenario, with uncertain winter snow for skiing, freak storms becoming the new norm, expensive plant and infrastructure lying unused, and summer trails held hostage to rock falls and route destruction.
He called for honourable, clear-minded realists and leaders who order the precautionary principle and the well-being of future generations, accenting the danger posed by climate change deniers and status quo apologists. Lipman expressed SUNx Malta’s readiness to collaborate anywhere, anytime, to co-create a greener and cleaner future. *BTNewspaper
