First steps to become a sustainable destination: Nature and conservation

Sustainable destination management can be challenging, and it may sometimes be difficult to know where to start. From reducing GHG emissions, becoming nature-positive, supporting local businesses, juggling a wide range of stakeholders with competing interests, etc., you have a lot of responsibilities as a destination manager. All the while marketing and positioning your destination to attract visitors and satisfy their expectations.

In this series of article, we will outline the first steps you can take to start your journey towards becoming a sustainable destination. In this article, you can read about guidelines for nature and conservation.

Why is it important?

Tourism often relies on biodiversity and natural resources to attract visitors; it therefore makes sense that it contributes to conservation and rehabilitation of these assets to ensure a sustainable future.?

However, we are in a biodiversity crisis. The average global biodiversity intactness is only 75%. Much below the recommended safe limit of 90%. And that is just the global average... For example, the United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted countries, with only 53% of its biodiversity left. You can find out where your country stands in the?Global Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII).?

It is essential that future developments regenerate biodiversity rather than further depleting it.?

Where to start??

1. Measure and reduce the tourism impact on nature?

We cannot preach it enough; one cannot effectively manage what it not measured. The first step to understanding how to protect, conserve and rehabilitate biodiversity, is to understand what impact we have on it.?

"Biodiversity underpins all economic activities and human well-being. It provides critical life-supporting ecosystem services, including the provision of food and clean water, but also largely invisible services such as flood protection, nutrient cycling, water filtration and pollination.", Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

2. Manage landscapes and sceneries

Landscape and sceneries are central to tourism. As Terkenli et al (2021)[1]?state in their recent study:?

“The centrality of sightseeing to tourism and the definition of landscape itself, attest to the fact that there can be no tourism without landscape.”

Through efficient urban planning, you must protect landscapes (forbidding a skyscraper to be built in front on the beach or avoiding advertisement boards to be installed in front of a viewpoints, etc.). The place must conserve a sense of harmony, for the well-being of residents, and to attract and satisfy visitors.?

What's next??

You can receive extensive training and guidance on the first steps towards becoming a sustainable destination through the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories competition. A great opportunity for destinations to learn more about sustainable management while getting global visibility and reach for a project or initiative they have done.?

As Green Destinations Representatives, Acorn Tourism can support you through your submissions to the Top 100 competitions should you want to increase your scores and chances to get selected. Contact Louise de Hemmer:?[email protected]?or?+441580879970.?

These guidelines come from the Core-15 criteria of the?Green Destinations Standard, recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). These criteria have been identified as the basics for sustainability performance.

[1]?Terkenli et al (2021), Landscape and Tourism: European Expert Views on an Intricate Relationship. Land 2021, 10, 327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ land10030327?