UNWTO awards Geoffrey Wall the Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Tourism
The UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge recognizes the remarkable work of Professor Geoffrey Wall on several issues, but particularly on tourism and climate change. The Prize will be bestowed on Professor Wall during the UNWTO Awards Ceremony to be held on 18 January 2017 in Madrid on the occasion of FITUR, the International Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid, Spain.
Professor Wall is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Canada, where he has been teaching for more than 40 years.
The Prize has particularly valued Professor Wall’s pioneer research on tourism and climate change and his work on ecotourism and tourism planning. His ecotourism assessment framework and economic impacts assessment models have been effectively implemented in parks and protected areas in many parts of the world. Most of his research has been undertaken in Asia, with a recent emphasis on natural and cultural heritage and indigenous people.
A prolific writer and researcher, Professor Wall has published more than 200 publications in refereed journals, more than 100 book chapters and about 20 books and monographs. He has also supervised more than 100 graduate students; many of them are now leaders in the tourism field.
Professor Wall has also considerable involvement in practical international planning initiatives. For example, he contributed to the Bali Sustainable Development Project, directed two Five-Year projects in China on coastal zone management in Hainan, and on eco-planning and development; and has been an advisor on many tourism planning initiatives, from provincial to local level, especially in China. He is currently assisting the preparation of the application for UNESCO World Heritage sites in Western China.
Tourism committed to fight climate change – COP 22
The role of tourism in implementing the Paris Agreement was on the table on the occasion of the 22nd Session of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP22). The International Symposium of the Sustainable Tourism Programme of the United Nations 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), held during COP 22, discussed how to advance Sustainable Tourism in a Changing Climate.
The Symposium aimed at increasing awareness on tourism and climate change-related issues and encourage the sector to engage in actions that reinforce national commitments to the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
“The tourism sector is both a vector and a victim of climate change and we are fully committed to contribute to reach the objectives set by the Paris Agreement. This event was essential to advance this agenda, especially the discussion on measurement and reporting requirements as a basis for identifying and prioritizing climate action in tourism”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
“Sustainable tourism creates opportunities and assembles partners to help transform the industry towards low emissions and more efficient and less polluting operations. We must make tourism and every other industry contributor to our climate change action and a sustainable future”, said Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, in her video address to the event.
The event focused in particular in the need for partnerships with the private sector and the role of sustainable transportation to accelerate climate action in tourism.
“Climate change can only be addressed if actors from all parts of society – governments, businesses, NGOs and consumers – make a global and broad shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns. Accounting for 10% of GDP, 7% of the world’s exports and one in 11 jobs, tourism is one of the main economic sectors in the world, and as such has to be at the core of this essential transition,” said Charles Arden-Clarke, Head of the 10YFP Secretariat.
The International Symposium was part of the 3-day COP22 Tourism Side Events organized by the 10YFP Sustainable Tourism Programme and hosted by the Ministry of Tourism of Morocco. The Programme is a partnership led by UNWTO with the Governments of France, Morocco and the Republic of Korea as co-leads, with support of the 10YFP Secretariat at UN Environment, aimed at accelerating the shift towards more sustainable consumption and production. It was followed by a networking event involving financial institutions on sustainable tourism as well as by the Annual Conference on Saturday 12 November, where members of the network exchanged experiences and discussed priorities and next steps in the 10YFP Sustainable Tourism Programme.