Climate change is already having a devastating impact on the lives of people around the world. Many of the poorest people and countries in the global South, especially Bangladesh and many developing countries, are suffering the worst of its effects. Furthermore, poor Southern countries have the least resources and capacity to mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change. These include rising sea levels, loss of biodiversity and changing weather patterns leading to increased and prolonged periods of drought and flooding.
Tourism is an important sector for employment generation and foreign currency earnings. Though climate is an essential resource for tourism, especially for the beach, nature and winter sports tourism products, climate change directly hampers the attractive tourist location around the globe. Changing climate and weather patterns at tourist destinations and in tourist-generating countries can significantly affect the tourists' comfort and their travel decisions. Changing demand patterns and tourist flows will have an adverse impact on tourism business and on host communities, as well as knock-off effects on related sectors, such as agriculture, handicraft or construction.
Tourism and those who depend on it for their livelihoods also stand to be major victims of climate change. Low-lying island idylls, such as the Maldives and the Pacific Islands, are already falling victim to rising sea levels and sea acidification that is destroying the sea life that tourists flock to see.
In this global era, many poor countries and communities are heavily dependent on tourism. If tourist numbers were to suddenly decline due to climate change, this would have a negative impact on local people. This means that climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies need to take such tourism dependence into account, and foster alternative, sustainable livelihood sources and strategies for local people and economies, if tourism declines. According to the Tourism Concern, climate change affects every country in the world. Some of those experiencing the effects most acutely include: Antarctica, the Maldives, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean and Bangladesh. In these small island-states and developing countries, where tourism is a major economic activity, any significant reduction in tourist arrivals will have a serious impact on employment and engender further poverty. The climate change issue is also a matter of great concern as it will be one of the worst victims of the world. The accelerated climate change has long been affecting both the developed and the developing countries where bio-diversity along with the agro-based tourism products is facing dangerous consequences.
Bangladesh is known as the longest beach holding country in the world. It has some unique natural beauty for tourist attractions. According to Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), there are at least 43 tourist destinations in Bangladesh. It has Cox`s Bazar and Teknaf Peninsula, the Sundarbans, one of the largest mangrove forests, northeast wetlands, Haors and bird watching spots, mixed evergreen forests and hills in Chittagong Hill Tract, Sylhet, north eastern hills, archeological sites, old cities, towns, ports and islands etc. On the other hand, according to the World Travel and Tourism Corporation (WTTC), Bangladesh Travel and Tourism economy is ranked 82nd in the absolute size worldwide, 173rd in relative contributions to national economies and 23rd in long-term (10-year) growth. Due to climate change, these establishments now are facing danger. A report produced by the Ministry of Environment and Forestsclaimed that the major tourist spots of Bangladesh have risks and impacts as shown in the Table 1 due to global climate change:
Global literature and reports from relevant bodies on climate change have collectively asserted the need to urgently understand and assess the impacts on tourism industry by case and nation. At present, for Bangladesh, ardent actions on assessing, understanding and monitoring climate change impacts on the service sector having high national income potential are required. Bangladesh has already adopted the principle of sustainable tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation defines sustainable tourism as "tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future." With given problems emerging across the tourism sector, climate change must be viewed from the sustainable tourism development context. This can lay foundation for supporting adaptation and mitigation measures within the scope of sustainable tourism operations in Bangladesh.
The writer graduated from the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. He is now working as a research associate.
Email: [email protected].
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