UNEP Calls on Caribbean to Beef Up Environmental Protection

godking
03 May 2005 6:00am

The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) called on all countries in the Grand Caribbean region to resort to all legal tools within their reach in order to preserve elements that might lead the way to sustainable development.

This particular message was put across by Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri, of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), who also attended the conference in Tobago.

Sustainable tourism through diversity was the central focus of the 7th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, also known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-7), that came to a close Friday in Tobago.

“The April 26-29 conference, which took place at the Tobago Hilton in Trinidad´s sister island, Tobago, dealt with the critical question of whether the Caribbean wants tourism growth or tourism development,” said Mercedes Silva, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)´s sustainable tourism specialist.

“If we say development, how can we ensure its sustainability? What elements should be present in a tourism product to be sustainable? What are the options in the Caribbean?” she stated.

She explained that in the last decade Ecotourism has been recognized as a viable form of sustainable tourism development.

“Its capacity to generate economic benefits by contributing to the protection of natural and cultural resources and involving the local communities has made it an alternative form of tourism, especially in protected and remote rural areas,” Ms. Silva said.

Themed Keeping the Right Balance – Sustainable Tourism Through Diversity, the conference focused on the initiatives taken in the Caribbean to contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism industry and the potential use of Ecotourism as an instrument to achieve this goal. The host destination, Tobago, was one of the case studies.

The program included plenary sessions, workshops, and study tours.

The annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is part of the information dissemination and regional awareness component of CTO´s Strategy for Sustainable Tourism.

It looks at how member states of CTO and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programs, offering a regional forum for information exchange on the successes and pitfalls of national, regional and international initiatives.

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