The travel & tourism industry’s high-gear campaigns to cut back on plastic pollution, save energy, prevent food waste, etc., etc. are all important to advancing the sustainability agenda and protecting the natural environment. But travel & tourism has done little or nothing to protect the “other environment” — that of cultural, social and ethnic cohesion which is just as important as the “natural environment” and which is also under threat.
I call it “The Other Global Warming.”
Combined, the “Two Global Warmings” are the biggest man-made threats facing travel & tourism in the years ahead.
In this edition of The Olive Tree, I draw attention to the Alliance of Civilisations, an initiative taken by the United Nations to combat “violent extremism, xenophobia, discrimination, intolerance and fear of the other.” The UNAOC “seeks to create forums for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, to promote tolerance, diversity and a culture of peace.” It provides an open space for UNAOC Group of Friends, UN system entities, civil society including NGOs, faith- based organizations, media and private sector “to share good practices on ways to promote dialogue and understanding with partnerships that work.”
I may be mistaken but I do not recall any gathering of travel & tourism “thought-leaders” ever featuring the head of the UNAOC as a speaker, or any travel & tourism organisation seeking a “partnership that works” to address the “The Other Global Warming.”
Sadly, this serious imbalance prevails at the global level.
Every year, countries convene at UN negotiating tables to agree on ways to reduce the projected rise in global temperatures. They cite science which proves that the rising atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases is disrupting weather patterns, causing droughts and intensifying storms.
