Posted on 10/02/2007 9:14:57 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - Idyllic island and beach holiday destinations on Tuesday launched their cry of alarm about the impact of climate change, warning that it was threatening their scenery and their livelihoods.
Tourism and government officials from Australia, Egypt, Fiji and the Seychelles underlined that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures and storms were damaging beaches and coral reefs that underpin a vital part of their economies.
"The issue of climate change is no longer an issue for the future, it is an issue for today," Fiji's Secretary for Tourism Bannve Kuamaitotoya told the UN meeting on climate change and tourism.
"There is a sense of urgency in the south Pacific," she added.
The south Pacific island attracts 500,000 visitors a year and its tourism industry accounts for 80 percent of development projects.
However, climate change threatens to erode beaches and bring more frequent and intense storms, undermining Fiji's attractiveness to investors and tourists, Kuamaitotoya said.
Similar concerns were expressed by the Maldives and the Seychelles, island chains in the Indian Ocean, which are confronted by rising sea levels.
Abudllah Mausoom, director general of the Maldives tourism board, underlined said the low lying islands' popularity depended on their natural beauty.
"We have our crystal clear lagoons, snow white beaches, coloured waves, the small animals that live in the reefs and the Maldives sunrise and sunsets," Mausoom said.
"This is our product. Climate change can change all of this. Climate change will change the nature of beauty," he added.
At just 1.3 metres (four feet) above sea level, three-quarters of the islands forming the Maldives are among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by melting polar ice caps, scientists on the UN's panel on climate change have predicted.
Tourism in the Maldives accounts for one-third of national income, about a similar level to the Seychelles.
"Pull out tourism and you pull out 60 to 80 percent of activity in the country," said Michael Nalletamby of the Seychelles tourism board.
"The big picture is scary," he added.
Australian Greater Barrier Reef authority chief Andrew Skeat underlined the impact of coral bleaching caused by higher water temperatures on the country's six billion dollar tourist attraction.
About 10 percent of the huge coral reef was damaged by punctual sea temperature rises in 1998 and 2000, Skeat said, also highlighting the impact of more frequent, intense storms on the reef and wildlife.
"It's coral which brings people to the reef," he added.
Egyptian tourism ministry official Mahmoud El Kaissouni highlighted projections of rising sea levels eating away at its Mediterranean coastline and other climatic shifts.
Tourism generates 7.5 billion dollars for the Egyptian economy and provides 12 percent of the labour force with their main source of revenue, especially in coastal resorts, he told the meeting.
Coral bleaching is also sapping the colour from the underwater reefs that are a big attraction for Egypt's Red Sea resorts.
"Of the nine million tourists who visited Egypt last year, three million were divers," Kaissouni said.
Island states raised concerns about long-term measures that might be taken if the industry fails to tackle global warming, especially on air travel, which accounts for 40 percent of tourism's harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
While urging greater efforts to curb emissions, Nalletamby warned that any cutback in long-haul flights would stifle tourism. Seventy-eight percent of travellers to the the Maldives take a nine hour flight from Europe.
Melanesian children float on a bamboo pontoon by Wicked Walu Island on the resort-studded Coral Coast of Fiji in 2003. Idyllic island and beach holiday destinations on Tuesday launched their cry of alarm about the impact of climate change, warning that it was threatening their scenery and their livelihoods.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood )
This picture taken 17 August 2007 shows the wooden entrance leading to the Coco Palm resort on the Boduhithi Island, Maldives. Idyllic island and beach holiday destinations on Tuesday launched their cry of alarm about the impact of climate change, warning that it was threatening their scenery and their livelihoods.(AFP/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi )
Oh well...climate change is happening, for the most part, naturally. Nothing we can do about it.
There, now I feel better. I hate it when I’m wrong, but will admit it.
The sea level has been rising by about seven inches a century for the last half-millenium. This is thought to be due to tectonic changes in the shape of the ocean basins. Not much we can do about that.
But how would global warming, if it occurred, affect sea levels?
On the one hand, a warmer climate would melt mountain glaciers and cause a thermal expansion of ocean water, accelerating sea levels’ rise.
But on the other hand, more water would evaporate from the surface of warmer oceans, leading to more rainfall, and -over Greenland and the Antarctic- to greater accumulation of snow and ice. This process essentially thickens the polar ice caps, thus lowering sea levels.
So which is it?
The only example we have of a sharp rise in temperature is the 1900 to 1940 temp rise-up after the “Little Ice Age” of the 19th C.
Neither the Little Ice Age nor the warming that followed are ascribed to human influences; many scientists believe they were caused by subtle changes in the sun’s radiation.
Data from the warming of 1900-1940 shows a DROP in sea levels, while the subsequent cooler period shows a sea-level rise.
This effect is even more pronounced in comparisons of sea-level changes with sea-surface temperatures in the tropics, where most of the oceans’ evaporation occurs.
So it looks like the evaporation engine in the tropics starts running like crazy during hotter periods, driving sea levels down. But when the temperature is colder, the normal process of ice melt in summer can beat the tropical ocean evaporation engine. If true, its the damnedest thing.
I was on the Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea in November of 2000 and the coral, which is very shallow, was perfect and exactly as I recalled it from a previous visit in the mid 70s.
We avoided Fiji in 2000 and again in 2005 because of political instability. I have considered and rejected the Maldives because they are majority Muslim. The Seychelles and the East African game parks are on my to do list, but as of right now, I don’t know a lot about them.
In 2005 we opted to stay in the US and took our vacation on Maui, which was superb. All of the Pacific destinations involve long airflights. It is not fun to take these flights.
Quantas and Air New Zealand are ok, but we had a flight home from Tahiti on Air France that was so lacking in service and so uncomfortable due to seat configuration (Airbus) that I would do anything to avoid ever repeating it.
These places need to realize that 15-30 hr flights (including layovers) can be daunting for Americans, especially as we age.
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