Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Resource Conservation
• Ecotourism Development and Management
• Coastal Resource Management

Environmental Achievements

• Establishment of the world’s largest marine sanctuary in the Florida Keys (1990) and another large one off Monterey, California (1992), in response to development pressures degrading delicate reef ecologies.
• Globally, protected lands doubled in size between 1972 and 1982.

Social Achievements

• Ecotourism is being considered as a strategy and incentive for preserving forest resources throughout the Caribbean.
• Ecotourism generates employment and attracts capital for infrastructure development.

Governance Achievements

• Increased governmental involvement in coastal and marine tourism due to reliance on public resources, competition for resources, risks from natural hazards, and complex environmental dynamics.
• Development of the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) technique for iterative analysis of conditions and reconsideration of objectives in tourism planning.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Unplanned mass tourism damaging natural environments and communities.
• Insufficient data to confirm a cause/effect relationship between tourism and nature protection.
• High costs of establishing and managing protected areas.
• Negative impacts of tourism on water resources, nearshore habitats, and waste management.
• Small islands and poor countries facing greater costs and fewer benefits from tourism.
• Difficulty in coordinating ecotourism/conservation planning with overall regional development strategies.
• Lack of consensus on what constitutes ecotourism.
• Conflicts between maximizing economic benefits from parks and local access to resources.
• Difficulty in funneling tourism revenues back into protected area maintenance.
• Lack of well-defined planning processes focused on ecotourism development and management in many parks.

Mitigation Strategies

• Integrated planning for tourism and conservation.
• Public/private partnerships to promote sustainable natural resource use.
• Siting visitor infrastructure outside of protected areas.
• Use of local materials and labor for visitor lodging and services.
• Conservation zoning to distribute visitor uses and protect sensitive areas.
• Visitor Activity Management Plans (VAMP) to channel and direct visitors.
• Consumer education and awareness through codes of ethics and educational programs.
• Limiting visitor numbers based on carrying capacity analysis.
• Monitoring visitor use patterns and environmental impacts.
• Use of indicators to assess environmental conditions.
• Involving local communities in planning and management.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Use of local materials and products whenever possible.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities