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 snorkelling operators worldwide.
Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach implemented internationally by The Reef-World Foundation and the UNEP which leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts associated with marine tourism.
Originally established in Thailand in 2004, the Green Fins approach is a tool for supporting adoption and implementation of best practices in the diving and snorkeling tourism industry.

Aim:

It aims to protect coral reefs through environment-friendly guidelines promoting sustainable diving and snorkelling.
It provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for marine tourism and its robust assessment system measures compliance.

Green Fins Hub

The Green Fins Hub is the first-ever global marine tourism industry platform.
It would give sustainable marine tourism a ‘major boost’.
It is expected to scale up to reach a potential 30,000 operators worldwide from about 700 operators across 14 countries.

Significance:

It is intended to catalyse a seismic shift towards sustainability in the marine tourism sector through Green Fins membership.
Coral reefs are home to at least 25% of marine life, are the mecca for marine-related tourism, contributing up to 40% or more of the gross domestic product in some island nations. However, they are a most vulnerable ecosystem, especially to climate change with the difference between a global temperature rise of 1.5 or 20C being existential for reefs.
Increasing accessibility of best practice, knowledge and citizen science through the Green Fins Hub could be a game changer in ensuring a future for coral reefs and other fragile marine ecosystems.
The platform will help diving and snorkelling operators worldwide to make simple, cost-efficient changes to their daily practices by utilising tried and tested solutions.
It would also help them keep track of their annual improvements and communicate with their communities and customers.

Sustainable Coastal and Marine Tourism

Sustainable Tourism refers to sustainable practices in and by the tourism industry. It refers to addressing the issues of a greener tourism sector both on the demand as well as supply side.
According to the UN, sustainable tourism should incorporate the following:
Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.
Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.
Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.
Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) represents at least 50% of total global tourism. It constitutes the largest economic sector for most Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and many coastal states.
With anticipated global growth rates of more than 3.5%, coastal and marine tourism is projected to be the largest value-adding segment of the ocean economy by 2030, at 26%.

Challenges Associated with CMT

Continued Depletion and Degradation of Natural Assets is putting the sustainability and viability of the industry, along with the local communities that rely on it, at risk.
Covid-19 Pandemic Caused a Major Disruption in the tourism industry. The World Travel and Tourism Council has projected around 75 million job losses and a tourism-induced GDP reduction of more than $2 trillion globally.
Climate Change will Affect Strongly the Coastal Areas with high anthropic vulnerability, through temperature increase, more frequent environmental events, water scarcity and sea level rise (SLR).

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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