There can be little doubt that the tourism, aviation and transport sectors are particularly at risk both from direct effects – such as sea-level rise, changing ecosystems, species extinctions, extreme weather events, etc. in the case of tourism – as well as from attempts to mitigate climate change by cutting carbon emissions. Regulated reductions in travel-related carbon emissions, carbon taxes and rising fuel prices precipitated by the looming oil crisis will all conspire to seriously crimp long-haul tourism (bad news for ecotourism) and air travel, assuming that substantive goals are agreed on at Copenhagen. Even if the world’s politicians lack the courage to agree to substantive emissions reductions, as might be the case, “peak oil” will eventually force what we fail to do voluntarily.

KPMG's Risk Preparedness Framework (Source: KMPG IT Advisory: Find your shade of green. Copyright KPMG 2009 All rights reserved)

KPMG’s Risk Preparedness Framework, reproduced here (click to view full size), shows the transport, tourism and aviation sectors in the “danger zone” where risk as a result of climate change is perceived to be greater than preparedness. What might “preparedness” mean? Prepared to mitigate (or prevent) climate change as the designers of Copenhagen envisage? Or prepared to adapt to the inevitability of climate change?

Should Copenhagen fail we all enter a brave new world of adaptation to climate change, where we place our trust in geo-engineering technologies and where, without massive transfers of technology and resources to developing nations, they will be cut loose and left at the mercy of the elements. Failure at Copenhagen will amount to a vote for vested interests – and some of those interests may include the airline industry, economies dependent on mass and growing tourism, etc.

The language in the World Tourism Organization’s (WTO) Davos to Bali declaration suggests that adaptation is the preferred and expected course for most of its members. Developing countries, it seems, have resigned themselves to adapting to the “inevitability” of climate change. Consider the Indian delegation’s statement at the Ministers’ Summit on Tourism and Climate Change in London in 2007:

…we must significantly shore up our abilities to cope with and adapt to climate change. To be able to do so, we need development, which is also the best form of adaptation. … we need to …. see what can be done to adapt to the inevitability of further global warming.

One wonders whether “development” will be enough when a 100 million Bangladeshi climate refugees stream into India as they flee their flooded delta?

Brazil’s delegation also weighed in with a plea for assistance with adaptation:

Assist developing countries where the tourism sector is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effect of climate change, in order to allow them to meet the related costs of adaptation.

Never mind that the continuing assault on its Amazon rainforests contributes massively to climate change, or that the country is banking on exploiting recent deep-sea oil finds.

Australia, a developed country which has distinguished itself by failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol along with the USA, and probably informed by its economic vulnerability as a long-haul tourism destination dependent on air travel, put a different spin on it:

The tourism sector … should not be disadvantaged through the imposition of a disproportionate burden either on tourism as a whole or on vital components such as aviation.

The tourism-sector-as-victim argument.

If all else fails however, reach for the jobs/poverty alleviation/economic growth arguments – as the WTO Secretary-General did in Bali. The message seems to be: yes climate change is potentially catastrophic, but don’t touch tourism (and by extension, air travel) as it creates jobs, grows economies and benefits the poor in far-off destinations (Australia excluded).

I have also wrestled with the dilemma of the climate implications of long-haul travel versus the dependence of biodiversity conservation on ecotourism, especially in Africa. This is however not an environmental-socio-economic trade-off, but an attempt to weigh ecological alternatives. One could, however, argue that biodiversity is doomed by climate change over the long-term, notwithstanding short-term attempts to mitigate biodiversity destruction… And when biodiversity goes, species, livelihoods and the ecosystem services that sustain all life will follow in short order.

Another indication that the tourism industry has not quite come to terms with what sustainability might entail is a reference to the need for “tourism to grow in a sustainable manner” in the Davos Declaration after the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism at Davos in 2007. Besides the incongruous proximity of the words “grow” and “sustainable” in that phrase, the methods of achieving this through mitigating emissions, adapting to climate and employing technology to improve energy efficiency are insufficient, although laudable. True (strong) ecological sustainability means that material and energy throughputs must be limited to what the ecosphere can sustainably supply (resources) and absorb (waste, emissions). Best effort mitigation and minimisation are not going to cut it.

Take as an example the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60%-80% of current levels by 2050 in order to limit the average global temperature increase to 2^oC. Suppose air travel volumes and aircraft-miles were clamped at current levels and that all airline fleets were replaced with Boeing Dreamliners tomorrow. Even in this unlikely, zero-growth scenario aviation emissions would be reduced by only 20%, which means that tourism would not be contributing anywhere near its share of reductions. Outside of hoping for a technological silver bullet to come to the rescue, the implications for tourism are pretty stark and understandably nobody wants to really deal with them.

So, no – the tourism industry is not ready for climate risk.

The latest news we got on the lion is that it was released and some people have already spotted it in the wild. If anyone ever go on a safari anywhere in Africa and come across behaviour which they feel is inappropriate, please report this to the relevant contact person. Things can only be improved if we all do our bit in helping out.

Besides claims that the process of selling the rhino for hunting purposes was and is illegal as the correct procedures were not followed, one has to wonder how an agency that is charged with protecting and conserving species, species under siege on top of it, can consider selling them to hunters. And Vietnamese hunters at that. It is not hard to imagine that given the links between poachers and the Far Eastern markets for rhino horn, that this was a wonderful opportunity to “launder” poached horn. Recently too, members of the Vietnamese embassy were implicated in poaching and smuggling rhino horn by the excellent 50/50 conservation TV show. The hunting option was preferred to translocation, even to a neighbouring private reserve that made an offer.

Furthermore, it has always been anathema, as far as I know, to permit commercial hunting in any national park or provincial nature reserve. It is contrary to the ethos of conservation not to mention contrary to the legislation that governs protected areas, I would think.

With protectors like this, who needs poachers.

Over 8 days we literally walked the western rim of the escarpment, taking in majestic and awe-inspiring landscapes and experiencing the utter silence of these mountains. Two days and about 40km short of our objective, a cold front that had been dogging our steps for days finally chased us down the mountain. It was an epic – a walk of no ordinary proportion, as the organisers had aptly described it.

A 3-D Google Earth track, featuring almost every step, waypoints and geo-tagged photos appears in the window below.

If the track doesn’t appear in the window above or you don’t want to install the plugin in your browser, then download the Google Earth Rim of Africa file and view it in Google Earth (download Google Earth).

Ralph Pina is a co-founder of ecoAfrica.com

It is claimed that besides those being poached, about 300 have been shot for the trade. Should hunting for the trade not cease, the NGOs will approach CITES to upgrade rhino to Schedule 1, effectively banning legal hunting of the species.

Personally, I cannot get my head around why anyone would want to shoot a rhino – or any animal for sport for that matter. Although hunting proponents will often trumpet the sport’s “indispensable” contribution to the financing of conservation, this practice flies in the face of all such claims. It is a despicable practice and is driven by greed.

WESSA also states that rhino poached in Zimbabwe are being “laundered” by South African landowners and outfitters.

EcoAfrica does not promote hunting. But do note that there is a hunting operation that uses our name, despite it being a registered trademark. I suppose that speaks volumes for the ethics involved. We never have, and never will have anything to do with hunting.

• Lodges, camps, restcamps and trails camps (book online)
• Transport: roads, distances, routes, gates, airstrips (plan a trip)
• Ecology: rainfall, biomes, wildlife census – all graphically represented
• History: how Kruger evolved and its borders expanded since 1884
• National park, transfrontier park and game reserve boundaries

So there’s something there for the traveller and visitor, as well as the scholar.

Travel layer: lodge and camp locations

Travel layer: game lodge information

Ecological layer: animal census

Ecological layer: biomes

Transport layer: roads, gates , airstrips, routes, distances

Predictably, the local media latched on to these statements, which I agree are rather sensationalist, and trumpeted them loudly, but failed to even mention the other half of his statement which asks what we as citizens and businesses are doing to curtail our consumption of energy. (Also see my post on this subject recently)

Tatalias asked:

We in civil society all bear our fair share of the responsibility too. What have we done to make our homes, offices and companies as energy efficient as possible? To be fair the rumblings and warnings of impending power disaster have been building for a while now for anyone who cared to listen. … Al Gore was imploring us to make changes two years ago. Our own industry has been grappling with Green aspects of Responsible Tourism for a few years with conferences and awards, but few have implemented. Time to stop grumbling and blame-storming; time to become part of the solution and change our own personal habits. If we all reduce our energy consumption we save ourselves money, and at the same time collectively solve a national crisis.

Right on! Now why would the media have missed this I wonder…?

There are no words spoken in the film. “I wanted to choose images which are simple and visually based”, said van Meygaarden. The storyline? Well see for yourself.

I arrived at Upington at 08h00 and we set off immediately to the Kgalagadi National Park – a dream came true! I had wanted to visit the Kalahari since I was 14 years old.

En route to Twee Rivieren camp our guide, Pieter, stopped at some salt pans. We arrived at the camp in the early afternoon and I will never forget the friendly smile on the reception lady’s face!! Annie, what a wonderful welcome!! After unpacking and eating a scrummy lunch we went on a game drive. In just 20km we saw lots of big birds, antelopes, lions and much more. Later we went on a night drive and saw more lions, springhares, bat eared foxes and an African wild cat. The next morning we departed for Nossob and did a game drive on the way. More lions, blue wildebeest, gemsbok, steenbok, and a yellow mongoose.

After getting to a very HOT Nossob, we unpacked and went for a swim. That evening we enjoyed the African skies filled with stars and a true South African barbeque.

The next morning we departed for Mata Mata and visited the lovely Urikaruus Wilderness Camp (my favourite of all the camps) en route. The Wilderness Camps are all wheelchair-friendly and all have different outlooks on the Kalahari. Arriving at Mata Mata a thunder storm started which was a welcome relief in the parched desert.

On our last morning we returned to Twee Rivieren and then Upington. And guess what? En route we saw more lions. Also a jackal, a bateleur, some bat eared foxes and a leopard.

The Kalahari is similar to a woman: it is full of moods, sometimes it is dry and some times it is covered with flowers after the rains and it looks like it is dressed up for an occasion. I loved the Kalahari and every day I felt I was different! I would go back any day, even if it is middle summer and you can cook an egg on the bonnet of your car.

Howard Clinebell, for example, developed a notion of eco-therapy in which healing for the earth also brings healing for ourselves. This means that human alienation cannot be healed without addressing our alienation from the earth itself. It seems to suggest that theories of therapy and counseling have to be extended towards a notion of eco-therapy, which has a more holistic view of the whole cosmos and the human consciousness within it. It also seems that taking steps to overcome the disconnectedness from nature that modern life has as its consequence, is an important aspect of psychological well-being. In this view, encouraging a growing connection between man and nature is a basic necessity for the healthy human psyche.

This brought me to ponder the concept of ecological spirituality. If eco-therapy can heal our traumatised psyches, wouldn’t eco-spirituality help to keep us healthy in the first place? In looking for an answer, I started looking for a good definition of spirituality, and was content with “an experience of the presence of God and a conscious response (in worship, ritual and praxis) to this presence of God”.

I went on to look at spirituality from a Christian perspective, and found that the Christian church very well acknowledges the grandeur of nature and the order of creation as one way in which to experience this presence of God. It stands alongside meditation on Scripture, worship, music, proclamation, service and fellowship, human conscience, internal illuminations, mystic experiences in a person’s self-consciousness and self-reflection, etc. This goes hand in hand with revelations in the past through the history of Israel, the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the church. But indeed, the Christian church does acknowledge that God may indeed be experienced in nature itself.

The next question however, is how to position oneself to actually experience God in nature? In this regard, Leonard Boff uses the category of mysticism, which points to the experiential dimension of spirituality. He defines “mystery” as the “dimension of depth to be found in every person, in every creature, and in reality as a whole. Out of necessity, this Mystery is unfathomable and inexplicable. It seems that reality proves to be immeasurably greater than our human reason, as well as our will to dominate it. Boff argues that this sense of mystery is an awareness that the whole is much more than the parts, that we cannot in the least grasp the depth and the layers of our reality and our existence within it. And it is this sense of unfathomable mystery that we as humans need to foster.

Typical themes that are addressed within this context include silence, detachment, prayer, fasting, repentance, contemplation, the rediscovery of the self (i.e. as connected to the earth), spiritual exercises, the need for spiritual direction, the need for a retreat which will bring one closer to nature, etc.

As I came upon these insights, I realised that these thoughts and ideas were the tip of the iceberg, and that I have stumbled upon a whole new world of wild splendour waiting to be revealed. I guess that kindling a sense of mystery within nature and towards life is a lifelong journey, but I am inspired once again to gear up and go walking in the wilderness to experience a piece of the magic and mystery. And as in the past, I know that I will come back changed, healed, uplifted, and secure, and that the activities I choose to fill my days with will make sense and will be inspired from within the soul of the world. This is my dream, but also my reality.