[last updated March 15, 2009 3:22 PM]
Shortcuts:
|
 |
General Information
Partnership website(s) |
Expected Timeframe
March 2009 - February 2012
|
Partners
Governments:
|
Major Groups:
|
UN System:
|
Other intergovernmental organizations:
|
| Other: |
Thematic Focus
Primary Themes:
|
Secondary Themes:
|
Geographic Coverage
Geographic Scope: Global
Country(ies) where the partnership is being implemented: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Seychelles, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela |
National Focal Points
At present, no information is available as to whether the
partnership has made contact with the national focal points for
sustainable development in the relevant countries.
|
Goals and Objectives
Summary of the partnership's goals and objectives
Sustainable tourism works to protect the
environment and the rights and livelihoods of local communities.
Tourism businesses – including hotels, lodges, and tour operators -- can
demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by meeting the standards
for social and environmental practices that have been created by
leading national and international certification programs. These
objective, third-party organizations offer an authoritative “seal of
approval” to those businesses meeting standards that conserve
biodiversity and promote the well-being of workers and communities.
There are more than 50 certification programs worldwide that have
created national and international standards for sustainable tourism and
ecotourism, and more are being created every year. However, key
questions arise about them:
How can the public tell which of these programs are credible?
How can tourism businesses choose which sets of standards will have legitimacy?
Which programs can show that they are making a difference – that certified tourism businesses have tangible impacts on workers, communities, and the environment and that businesses benefit from being certified?
And how can tourists be confident that the programs audit, certify, and provide continuous monitoring of those businesses that are serious about social and environmental sustainability and accountability.
In response to these challenges, a coalition of tourism industry associations, nonprofit civil society organizations (NGOs), private foundations, and U.N. and government agencies has been working to create a global Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC) -- an umbrella organization that would set universal minimum standards for certification programs and accredit those that meet them. This effort is currently being led by a board of directors that includes 17 organizations including representatives from international NGOs and the private sector and a Technical and Scientific Council that with participation of the United Nations Environment Program, the UN World Tourism Organization, and Rainforest Alliance, the international conservation organization that has provided technical and administrative leadership for the effort since 2001.
How can the public tell which of these programs are credible?
How can tourism businesses choose which sets of standards will have legitimacy?
Which programs can show that they are making a difference – that certified tourism businesses have tangible impacts on workers, communities, and the environment and that businesses benefit from being certified?
And how can tourists be confident that the programs audit, certify, and provide continuous monitoring of those businesses that are serious about social and environmental sustainability and accountability.
In response to these challenges, a coalition of tourism industry associations, nonprofit civil society organizations (NGOs), private foundations, and U.N. and government agencies has been working to create a global Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC) -- an umbrella organization that would set universal minimum standards for certification programs and accredit those that meet them. This effort is currently being led by a board of directors that includes 17 organizations including representatives from international NGOs and the private sector and a Technical and Scientific Council that with participation of the United Nations Environment Program, the UN World Tourism Organization, and Rainforest Alliance, the international conservation organization that has provided technical and administrative leadership for the effort since 2001.
Targets and Progress
Partnership targets
Partnership targets:
1. Conduct a full feasibility study for the design and functioning of the STSC. 2. Develop, through stakeholder consultation, growing support for the STSC. 3. Develop a detailed business plan for the creation and launching of the STSC. 4. Elect a Temporary Executive Board to serve as the governance body for the full creation and launch of the STSC. 5. Create a Scientific and Technical Advisory Council to provide guidance for the STSC from academics, agencies, and others who will not be direct participants in the accreditation. 6. Develop the fundraising capacity to obtain the funding needed to take the STSC to internal, fee-based financial sustainability within five years. 7. Create the first stakeholder-based global requirements for STSC-accredited sustainable tourism certification programs, in close collaboration with the Global Partnership for the Sustainable Tourism Criteria (STC Partnership). 8. Begin to evaluate the standards and practices of any new or existing sustainable tourism stewardship program that wishes to become accredited. 9. Award STSC accreditation for sustainable tourism certification programs that meet STSC requirements. 10. Promote those tourism certification programs that become accredited, showcasing tourism companies that meet STSC-accredited requirements. 11. Protect the STSC seal-of-approval from misuse be tourism certification programs that are not-STSC accredited. 12. Evaluate continuously the social and environmental impacts of STSC-accredited sustainable tourism certification programs. 13. Modify, if necessary, STSC accreditation requirements to make certain that the desired impacts are being realized. 14. Guarantee transparent multi-stakeholder involvement in the further development of STSC accreditation requirements. 15. Provide guidance for the establishment and development of new sustainable tourism certification programs around the world and, especially, in countries where there are none. 16. Advocate internationally and nationally for the political and financial support needed by sustainable tourism certification programs. |
Progress against targets
Progress against targets
1. Feasibility study was begun in 2001 and completed in 2003.* 2. Support developed in bottom-up world-wide consultation; more than 20 meetings in more than a dozen countries.* 3. Business plan for launching the STSC completed in 2007.* 4. Temporary Executive Board elected in August 2008, based on original STSC Advisory Committee.* 5. Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee development underway in 2008, led by commitments from UNEP and UNWTO and a panel of international experts.* 6. Initial successful fundraising support from Rainforest Alliance has brought the STSC this far; key priority in first staff hires will be given to fundraising skills. 7. This is the principal task of the STSC during the first half of 2009, based strongly upon, but potentially not limited to, the Sustainable Tourism Criteria project results, completed in early 2009 as well. 8. Business plan calls for initial evaluations and accreditations to begin in late 2009, with full services in place by the early part of 2010.* 9. First awards of STSC accreditation expected in the second half of 2009. 10. Marketing and promotion programs will be in place, and rolled-out, by the second half of 2009 and the early part of 2010. 11. Copyright protection of STSC intellectual property will have to begin in 2009 and continue thereafter. 12. Accreditation processes will include regular monitoring and auditing, and that must be designed to gather impact data to permit evaluation. 13. STSC accreditation requirements will need continuous improvement, based on technological change, market competition, and civil society demands. 14. Full governance structure to be set up by the Temporary Executive Board, which will then convene global elections. 15. Technical assistance for this dimension of the STSC has been provided, to date, by the Rainforest Alliance, especially in the form of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network, focused on Latin America. 16. This work will need to be done no solely by the STSC, but also by its NGO, private business, and international agency supporters, as opportunities arise. * All documentation is, or will be, available on the STSC website: www.stscouncil.org. |
Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer
Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer
- Human resources development/training
- Education/building awareness
- Institutional strengthening, including local participation
- Technology transfer/exchange
The fundamental design of the STSC
focuses on generating, implementing, and modifying (as needed) a set of
global criteria for accrediting certification programs for sustainable
tourism. Its contributions to capacity-building and technology transfer
will include:
• Global communication through its Web Portal of the criteria and
indicators for STSC accredited sustainable tourism programs, as well as
their modifications and the rationale for those modifications;
• Global communication through its Web Portal on the availability of
workshops, conferences, training sessions, new literature, new media,
and new guidelines for sustainable tourism certification, as provided by
its key partners, including key partners and regional networks of
sustainable tourism certification programs such as the Sustainable
Tourism Certification Network of the Americas, the Sustainable Tourims
Network Southern Africa, the VISIT network in Europe, and other emerging
initiatives; and,
• Fee-for-service training programs on the benefits of sustainable
tourism (for tourism companies), how to achieve accreditation for
sustainable tourism (for sustainable tourism certification programs).
The actual accreditation under its standards will be outsourced to an
independent body, so that there is no conflict of interest.
Relationship to International Agreements on Sustainable Development
How the partnership contributes to the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
The launch of the STSC represents the
creation of an institution -- and a critically-missing tool -- for
fulfilling the commitments of both Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan
of Implementation.
Tourism and travel are the world’s largest service industry, and one of the fastest growing. Sustainable tourism and travel are critical to the conservation of global natural resources, including sites of unsurpassed beauty upon which conventional tourism places unsustainable stress. Certification of sustainable tourism facilities and operations provides one of the most powerful market-based tools for transforming the social and environmental characteristics of the production and consumption of those services. And, as noted above, without something similar to the STSC, there will be no credibility associated with the rapidly-proliferating systems of certification for sustainable tourism.
Governments play an extraordinarily powerful role in the development of the tourism industry, at the national and subnational level. The guidelines that governments implement as a basis for the support that they provide to employment-generating and poverty-alleviating tourism projects are critical to the sustainability of those projects. The STSC will provide a well-publicized, stakeholder-based global set of guidelines to which governmental policies and programs may adhere, both in the interest of improving the sustainability of the impacts of tourism policies and programs and with the goal of obtaining global recognition for the certification of their tourism operations under STSC-accredited certification programs.
Certification systems have been proven in many other natural resource management contexts to provide a surprisingly efficient, market-driven mechanism for improving the sustainability, measured in social and environmental accountability, of those sectors. The launching of the STSC will create a new institutional mechanism to provide new and powerful incentives to the tourism and ecotourism industries to improve the sustainable management of the ample land resources which they manage.
The launching and implementation of the STSC may represent one of the most important steps in the direction of the fulfillment of both of these mandates. The STSC will strengthen (and make more credible) the flows of information about sustainable – and unsustainable – tourism operations. It will provide new guidance to governments on the ways in which they can make their policies and programs more consistent with global guidelines. And it engages, by virtue of its stakeholder basis, the full range of affected parties, including the private sector, local and international social and environmental NGOs, and local and indigenous communities.
Strengthening certification programs for sustainable tourism represents one of the most effective ways in which voluntary, market-driven systems will fulfill this mandate. Without an organization like the STSC, the credibility, and ultimately the effectiveness, of these certification programs will be in doubt.
Relevant Sections of Agenda 21
Tourism and travel are the world’s largest service industry, and one of the fastest growing. Sustainable tourism and travel are critical to the conservation of global natural resources, including sites of unsurpassed beauty upon which conventional tourism places unsustainable stress. Certification of sustainable tourism facilities and operations provides one of the most powerful market-based tools for transforming the social and environmental characteristics of the production and consumption of those services. And, as noted above, without something similar to the STSC, there will be no credibility associated with the rapidly-proliferating systems of certification for sustainable tourism.
Governments play an extraordinarily powerful role in the development of the tourism industry, at the national and subnational level. The guidelines that governments implement as a basis for the support that they provide to employment-generating and poverty-alleviating tourism projects are critical to the sustainability of those projects. The STSC will provide a well-publicized, stakeholder-based global set of guidelines to which governmental policies and programs may adhere, both in the interest of improving the sustainability of the impacts of tourism policies and programs and with the goal of obtaining global recognition for the certification of their tourism operations under STSC-accredited certification programs.
Certification systems have been proven in many other natural resource management contexts to provide a surprisingly efficient, market-driven mechanism for improving the sustainability, measured in social and environmental accountability, of those sectors. The launching of the STSC will create a new institutional mechanism to provide new and powerful incentives to the tourism and ecotourism industries to improve the sustainable management of the ample land resources which they manage.
The launching and implementation of the STSC may represent one of the most important steps in the direction of the fulfillment of both of these mandates. The STSC will strengthen (and make more credible) the flows of information about sustainable – and unsustainable – tourism operations. It will provide new guidance to governments on the ways in which they can make their policies and programs more consistent with global guidelines. And it engages, by virtue of its stakeholder basis, the full range of affected parties, including the private sector, local and international social and environmental NGOs, and local and indigenous communities.
Strengthening certification programs for sustainable tourism represents one of the most effective ways in which voluntary, market-driven systems will fulfill this mandate. Without an organization like the STSC, the credibility, and ultimately the effectiveness, of these certification programs will be in doubt.
Relevant Sections of Agenda 21
Preamble; International
cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing
countries and related domestic policies; Changing consumption patterns;
Promoting sustainable human settlement development; Integrated approach
to the planning and management of land resources; Managing fragile
ecosystems: sustainable mountain development; Conservation of biological
diversity; Protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including
enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, and coastal areas and the protection,
rational use and development of their living resources; Protection of
the quality and supply of freshwater resources: application of
integrated approaches to the development, management and use of water
resources; Environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals,
including prevention of illegal international traffic in toxic and
dangerous products; Environmentally sound management of solid wastes and
sewage-related issues; Global action for women towards sustainable and
equitable development; Recognizing and strengthening the role of
indigenous people and their communities; Strengthening the role of
non-governmental organizations: partners for sustainable development;
Strengthening the role of business and industry
Relevant Sections of the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21
Integration of economic, social and environmental objectives
Relevant Sections of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
Changing unsustainable patterns of
consumption and production ; Protection and managing the natural
resource base of economic and social development
Coordination and Implementation
Coordination Mechanism of the Partnership
The STSC Partnership will be coordinated
by its 16-member Temporary Executive Board during 2009, and until a
permanent Board of Directors is elected. This board will hire and
supervise a coordinator whose principle tasks will include organizing
the formal launch of the STSC in mid-2009 (preferably in a UN-affiliated
space in New York City), secure additional funding for the first stages
of implementation, and turn the organization over to an Executive
Director to be sought and selected by the Temporary Executive Board.
Scientific and technical coordination will be undertaken between the Temporary Executive Board and the staffs focused on sustainable tourism certification at UNEP and UNWTO, as well as with the additional independent members of the scientific and technical advisory council. Coordination will continue to depend on close collaboration with Rainforest Alliance staff until the STSC is fully organized and registered as a stand-alone nongovernmental organization. |
Implementation Mechanism of the Partnership
Implementation of the STSC is described
extensively in the STSC Business Plan, available at www.stscouncil.org.
In brief, 2009 will be the year for formal creation and initial funding
of the full organization, development of criteria and standards for
accreditation of existing sustainable tourism certification programs
that meet those standards (in close coordination with the Global
Partnership on Sustainable Tourism Criteria). In 2010 it is expected
that the first accreditations will take place and a global marketing
program for STSC-accredited programs will be launched. And in 2011 the
organization will reach structural, financial, and operational maturity,
bringing the partnership to an end in February 2012.
|
Resources
Funding Currently Available
Amount in US$: 200,000
Source(s): Foundations / charities
U.N. Foundation |
Non-financial resources available
Type(s):
Source(s): NGO
Continuing support from the Rainforest Alliance UNEP management of financial resources until the STSC is formally incorporated as an NGO |
Funding Sought
Required Amount in US$: 1,000,000
Source(s) already approached: Global Environmental Facility
Inter-American Development Bank World Bank Ford Foundation (and many others) |
Non-financial resources sought
Requirement(s):
Source(s) approached and details:
|
Additional Information
Additional Relevant Information
1. What are the benefits of the STSC for governments, local authorities and destination management services?• The STSC will assist them to raise the market profile and image of a destination in terms of its quality and environmental standards.
• The STSC will also assist them to monitor and support local or national certification schemes.
Benefits for travelers and other consumers of sustainable tourism and ecotourism?
• The STSC will provide new, credible identification of the hotels, lodges, and tour operators in which travelers can feel confident of their sustainable practices.
Benefits for conservation and community development groups?
• The STSC will ensure that accredited sustainable tourism certification programs meet the highest standards for protecting the environment and the rights and livelihoods of communities.
Benefits for sustainable tourism certification programs?
• The STSC will provide legitimacy and credibility to all those sustainable tourism certification programs that meet STSC requirements and, through its seal-of-approval, differentiation from those programs that have lower standards and weaker certification practices.
• The STSC will also provide global standardization of principles, criteria, and procedures for claims of sustainability in tourism and ecotourism, facilitating comparisons and partnerships across certification programs.
Benefits for the tourism and ecotourism industry?
• The STSC will provide stronger and more reliable access to national and international marketing channels for the sustainable tourism sought by an ever-expanding share of the market.
• The STSC will also provide international third-party validation of all of the national and international, private and public, sustainable tourism certification programs with which tour operators may wish to engage
2. Who are the members of the Temporary Executive Board of the STSC?
The STSC Advisory Committee, which has functioned since 2004, designated the following “chambers” to assure relative (though not perfect) balance across sectors and regions would be assured. The decision was taken a UNEP-hosted meeting in April 2008. This Temporary Executive Board will serve until such time in 2009 that formal by-laws have been drawn up, the final governance structure has been designed, consulted, and approved, and a Permanent Executive Board is elected.
B
Chris Thompson (Federation of Tour Operators) Business Chamber – Europe
Kelly Bricker (TIES) Business Chamber – International
Amos Bien (CESD) Business Chamber- Latin America
Steve Noakes (formerly with PATA) Business Chamber- Asia Pacific
Neel Inamdar (Conservation International) Environment Chamber – International
Oliver Hillel (CBD Secretariat) Environment Chamber – International
Martina Kohl (WWF – Germany) Environment Chamber – Europe
Naut Kusters (ECEAT) Environment Chamber – Europe
Erika Harms (UNF) Social-Cult. Chamber – International
Tricia Barnett (Tourism Concern, UK) Social-Cult. Chamber - International
Luis Sarmento (SNV Tourism, Mozambique) Social-Cultural Chamber - Africa
Anna Spenceley (SNV Tourism, South Africa) Independent Chamber - Africa
Herbert Hamele (ECOTRANS) Independent Chamber – Europe
Michael Conroy (Colibrí Consulting) Independent Chamber – US
Cathy Parsons (independent consultant) Independent Chamber – Asia Pacific
Guy Chester (Eco-SustainAbility) Independent Chamber – Asia Pacific
Fabian Roman (Plan 21) Independent Chamber – Latin Amer.
3. What are the duties of the Temporary Executive Board of the STSC?
As defined at the same meeting of the STSC Advisory Committee in April 2007, the duties of the TEB consist of:
1. Supporting fundraising efforts for the launch of the STSC.
2. Defining the permanent governance structure that will follow.
3. Fostering alliances that can provide support to sustainable tourism certification programs to prepare for accreditation.
4. Designing a communication strategy and recruiting members for the launch of the STSC.
5. Providing oversight for the 2 anticipated STSC staff (a coordinator and a fundraising officer).
6. Organizing the launch of the STSC in early 2009.
7. Overseeing the registration of the STSC as a legal non-profit entity, and supervising the development its operational plan.
8. Organizing a meeting of existing sustainable tourism certification programs prior to the launch of the STSC.
9. Other tasks outlined in the STSC business plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment