Green Fins Hub

Green Fins Hub

• Recently, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), along with the UK-based charity Reef-World Foundation, launched the Green Fins Hub.
• Green Fins Hub is a global digital platform for diving and snorkeling operators worldwide.

About :

• The Green Fins Hub is the world's first platform for the marine tourism sector.
• It would "significantly promote" environmentally conscious sea travel.
• From roughly 700 operators spread over 14 countries, it is anticipated to scale up to perhaps 30,000 operators globally.
• Through membership in Green Fins, a revolutionary change toward sustainability in the marine tourism industry is meant to be sparked.
• At least 25% of marine life lives on coral reefs, which are also the centre of marine-related tourism and can account for 40% or more of the GDP in some island countries. Reefs are a particularly fragile ecology, though; the difference between an increase in the world temperature of 1.5 or 20C would be fatal to them.
• Coral reefs and other vulnerable marine ecosystems may live on in the future due to the Green Fins Hub's increased accessibility to knowledge, best practices, and citizen science.
• The platform will assist diving and snorkeling operators globally by utilizing tried and true solutions to make simple, affordable improvements to their daily procedures.
• They may engage with their communities and clients and keep track of their yearly improvements.

Sustainable Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT): What is it?

Sustainability in and by the tourism sector is referred to as sustainable practices. It refers to addressing the problems associated with a greener tourist industry from both the supply and demand sides.

The following should be included in sustainable tourism, according to the UN:

• Utilize environmental resources as effectively as possible to support sustainable tourist development while preserving vital ecological processes and promoting biodiversity and natural heritage preservation.
• Respect the sociocultural authenticity of the host communities, preserve their traditional values and built and live cultural assets, and advance intercultural tolerance.
• Ensure long-term economic viability, equitable distribution of socioeconomic advantages among all stakeholders, steady job and income-earning opportunities, social services for host communities, and a reduction in poverty.
• At least 50% of all tourism worldwide is comprised of Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT). For many coastal states and most Small Island Developing States (SIDS), it is the major economic sector.
• Coastal and marine tourism is predicted to be the greatest value-adding sector of the ocean economy by 2030, with growth rates of more than 3.5% expected on a worldwide scale.

What are the CMT-Related Challenges?

• The sustainability and viability of the sector, as well as the local populations that rely on it, are at risk due to the ongoing depletion and degradation of natural resources.
• The Covid-19 Pandemic seriously disrupted the travel and tourism sector. Around 75 million job losses and a $2 trillion global GDP decline due to tourism have been predicted by the World Travel and Tourism Council.
• High anthropogenic susceptibility coastal areas will be particularly affected by climate change, which will result in temperature increases, more frequent environmental events, water scarcity, and sea level rise (SLR)???????

Additional Coastal and Marine Tourism Initiatives:

• In order to generate nature-positive tourism, where all supply chain actors come together to create value for people, nature, and companies, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and World Wild Fund (WWF) are cooperating with hotels, cruise ships, tour operators, and the industry.
• The Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative is an UN-organized international group that promotes the application of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles and focuses on the relationship between private finance and ocean health.
• The cornerstone for investing in the ocean economy is the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles. They were introduced in 2018, and they serve as the first worldwide framework for financing a sustainable blue economy for banks, insurers, and investors. They support the adoption of SDG 14. (Life Below Water)
• The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, run by the UNEP and World Tourism Organization in conjunction with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, now counts Ocean Recovery Alliance as a signatory.
• The goal of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative is not to totally phase out plastic from all aspects of the tourism industry, but rather to encourage a transition toward a circular economy of plastics in tourism operations where plastics never become garbage.