3 July 2015: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has launched ‘Tourism Supporting Biodiversity: A Manual on applying the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development.’ The manual aims to support the integration of biodiversity conservation and management into sustainable tourism development, and to support the implementation of the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development.

Decisions taken by Parties at the eleventh and twelfth meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD led to the development of the manual, which is based on the CBD guidelines and complements the more technical ‘User’s Manual on the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development’ published in 2007. In highlighting the important linkages between biodiversity and tourism, the publication is meant to serve as a reference tool for planners, developers, managers and decision makers involved in tourism development and resource management.

The manual has sections on, inter alia: governance; the need for baseline information; plan formulation for tourism and biodiversity; how to control the impacts of tourism on biodiversity; management initiatives to support biodiversity through tourism; monitoring, reporting and adaptive management; and awareness raising and capacity building. It provides numerous illustrative examples of biodiversity-oriented tourism initiatives from around the world.

The CBD Secretariat, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and 140 experts from around the world collaborated to produce the manual. [CBD Press Release] [Publication: Tourism Supporting Biodiversity: A Manual on applying the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism Development]