‘Climate Justice’ in tourism shouldn’t be too hard and it’s the right thing to do
There is increasing chatter on social media about the need for ‘Climate Justice’.
At its core, Climate Justice is ensuring a very strong measure of protection for those who did the least to create the ‘Code Red Climate Crisis’, and who are likely to be the most to suffer from climate change, and who are least able to afford to adapt effectively.
This means Climate Justice for LDCs (Least Developed States) and SIDS (Small Island Developing States). To be fair, justice for the most vulnerable has always been a core policy of the environment movement.
In 1971, half a century ago, Maurice Strong flew to India to persuade Indira Ghandi, the leader of the Group of 77, to attend the first Earth Summit the following year in Stockholm, to, as he put it, “make it a success and help save our Planet”. Strong had a very clear view of Climate Justice.
In United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) discourse the idea of ‘CBDR’ (Common But Differentiated Responsibilities) is at the core of all climate action. This means the biggest polluters pay the price. CBDR is a fundamental necessity for any kind of global accord given that LDCs and SIDS together are responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
At SUNx Malta these poor countries are our priority focus. They have been since the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) announced a “pivot to the poorest” last year in Doha.
SUNx Malta is delivering ‘Climate Justice’ in tourism for LDCs and SIDS:
- Scholarships for students from LDCs and SIDS to attend our world-first Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) Diploma and then installing graduates as National Chapter leaders. They, in turn, will gather like-minded activists into the CFT Chapters, enrol travel companies on the CFT Registry, and engage decision-makers to systematically build communities that seek tourism futures that are Paris 1.5: SDG linked: Nature +. By the end of 2024 we will have close to 100 Chapters globally.
- CFT transformation through our social enterprises:
- CFT Club, which rewards travellers for climate consciousness with discounts at participating local — companies.
- CFT Services, which helps to deliver a CFT Plan B for destinations and corporations.
CFT Facility, which is building blended finance to grow a climate response capacity in those super exposed states and among their tourism stakeholders.
- Support for Climate Justice in tourism with:
- A call for massive increases in ‘Tourism Adaptation Finance’ in proportion to the huge subsidies still given for fossil fuel exploration. The rich countries must provide the money they have been promising.
- A demand for recognition of ‘Essential Air Services’ modelled on the US small cities support and the UK Scottish Islands support, with guarantees of priority SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) for small islands whose lifeline is aviation.
- A targeted promotion to climate-conscious travellers, including members of CFT Club, with discounted hotel and entertainment from companies in these states, as well as Plan B support.
These kinds of actions are clearly the humanly-right, morally-right, things to do. So let’s do more of it. Please join our Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) Community. It’s free. Help us fight the good fight.
Featured image (top of post) by Markus Spiske (CC0) via Unsplash.
About SUNx Malta
SUNx Malta is a legacy for the late Maurice Strong, father of sustainable development. Its goal is to advance Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) ~ Paris 1.5 and SDG linked.
SUNx has a core partnership with Malta’s Ministry of Tourism and Malta Tourism Authority, to advance CFT, to create a UNFCCC-linked CFT Registry, and to promote CFT Education. It plans to put in place 100,000 Strong Climate Champions across all UN States by 2030.
Don’t miss other “GT” Partner messages from SUNx Malta
