Governing sustainable tourism in territories with high environmental value: reconnecting tourism and nature for addressing the climate crisis with an ecosystem-based approach
Project Jan, 2024 - Sep, 2026

Governing sustainable tourism in territories with high environmental value: reconnecting tourism and nature for addressing the climate crisis with an ecosystem-based approach

project image

Overview and objectives

Summary:
The Mediterranean is a vulnerable hotspot in the current Climate Emergency. Tourism is and will be one of the most impacted economic sectors, with heightened risks, including flooding and erosion of…
The Mediterranean is a vulnerable hotspot in the current Climate Emergency. Tourism is and will be one of the most impacted economic sectors, with heightened risks, including flooding and erosion of key coastal assets. The recent Transition Pathway for Tourism and the Glasgow Declaration are building a global momentum for Climate Action in Tourism, but policy makers and destinations need support and new approaches. Nature can be a cornerstone to address this challenge, while ensuring the protection of key destination assets, such as beaches. How? Through climate mitigation and adaptation using ecosystem-based approaches, which can only be accomplished through strong governance, robust planning, and the engagement of the private sector and citizens.

NaTour4CChange will build on successful experiences at Med and global level to test solutions for increasing the resilience of coastal destinations in the Mediterranean. The project will set common methods to allow participating regions to assess their tourism-related climate adaptation and mitigation priorities, and take climate action via plans and strategies, supported by cooperative governance. In coastal destinations, cross-sector teams will deliver specific tourism climate action plans, focusing climate adaptation, where Nature-based Solutions will be tested to ensure their feasibility, while innovative destination marketing and communication approaches will engage private stakeholders, visitors and residents in climate action. Finally, NaTour4CChange will promote crossfertilization among participating regions and destinations, to achieve common methods and to compare the different tested plans and solutions, which will lead to lessons, best practices and policy recommendations. Associated partners and external stakeholders —at regional, national and international scale— will benefit from these learnings in order to make a significant Med contribution to this global challenge.
Objective:
1 METHODS AND LEARNINGS: Creating the methods and sharing progress and learnings in order to design the Climate Change action planning for project’s Regions and to improve the Climate Change-related…
1 METHODS AND LEARNINGS: Creating the methods and sharing progress and learnings in order to design the Climate Change action planning for project’s Regions and to improve the Climate Change-related resilience of pilot tourism destinations.

2 REGIONAL TOURISM CLIMATE GOVERNANCE & POLICY: Improve regions capacity for integrated tourism climate policy and governance to
mitigate and adapt to climate change.

3 PILOT DESTINATION RESILIENCE: To increase the Climate Change-related resilience of pilot tourism destinations through a long-term planning of evidence-based activities to adapt the destination to CC and through the testing of Nature-based Solutions.

Members and partners

Consejería de Sostenibilidad, Medio Ambiente y Economía Azul, Junta de Andalucía,
Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature,
Region of Crete

Thank you to our donors