The president of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), Professor Geoffrey Lipman is alarmed. In his blog addressed to ICTP members he published his concern about the President Elect of the United States  of America, Donald J Trump. Professor Lipman is viewed as a senior authority in the global travel and tourism industry.

Previously he was the first CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), and assistant secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).  He is now the president of ICTP, a Hawaii, Brussels, Seychelles and Bali based membership organizations with tourism board and stakeholders  in 114 countries.

The ICTP president has this to say:

“They say that a week is a long time in politics. It’s been just over a week since Donald J. Trump won the most powerful job in the world.

This election gave the most powerful job in the world to a man who denies climate change (as a Chinese hoax), says he will rip up the Paris Agreement, not put any US money into the Global Climate Fund, emasculate at best the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and will take the shackles off the US (and hence global) fossil fuel sector.

I have no rights to protest the overall policy line of the President – elect of the United States, but as a part of humanity, I have a duty to oppose his disastrous climate positions.

We need the Paris Accords – a bare minimum of global climate leadership towards a low carbon economy. We need smart decarbonization regulation. We need a sharp shift towards renewables and away from fossil fuel. We need market based carbon pricing and new energy incentives.  We need a 2050 “No Carbon Aviation Moon-shot”.

As I wrote in my last blog “this is just the start of a 3-decade carbon detox that will require a new dedication from every stakeholder, a new ability to think outside the box and to embrace new ways of doing business.”

Now, even more than before, with an existential climate change believer replaced by a denier in the White House, we must intensify the pro Paris mindset and find ways to preserve and strengthen the Accords.

A week ago we saw SUN, the Strong Universal Network,  simply as a means to help travel destinations and their stakeholders keep a focus on climate resilience and move to a green growth transformation path. Now it’s part of the Paris Accords defense system.

Maurice Strong – in whose memory SUN is fashioned and who passed away a year ago would approve of the additional emphasis – he spent his life pushing for long term action on Sustainable Development and fighting humbug. In his latter days, he targeted climate change as the biggest threat to humanity and an existential challenge.

Every week the threat gets larger.

This week I’m addressing the Asia Pacific Eco-Tourism Summit in Tasmania and it’s a message I shall be delivering. Geoffrey H. Lipman, President ICTP and co-founder SUN.”

ICTP is a global membership organization of travel and tourism stakeholders and destinations with a common goal of Green Growth + Quality = Business. The International Coalition is based in Hawaii, Brussels, Seychelles and Bali with members in 114 countries.

More information  http://www.ictp.travel