Linking Tourism & Conservation

Source: ecotourism.org

UNEP/GRID-Arendal Linking Tourism and Conservation Initiative works to identify success factors of functioning cases and to increase the worldwide understanding of these models, why they are functioning and how they can be replicated elsewhere. The initiative is supporting the targets of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The initiative seeks to create incentives for successfully developing and managing the world's protected areas by:

• Proactively considering the role of tourism in the development of (new) protected areas. Scarce funds for effective management can be increased through financial flow from tourism.
• Encouraging tourism businesses to include nature conservation in their management plans. This leads to involvement and commitment of more stakeholders into biodiversity conservation.
• Increasing awareness and support among visitors to protected areas that can lead to direct financial support or to support for relevant organizations and policies.