Jon Lozano and Lorea Bereciartua "Impact of business in biodiversity"

"Tourism in biodiversity"

It threatens our food supplies, opportunities for recreation and tourism, and sources of wood, medicines and energy. It interferes with essential ecological functions such as species balance, soil formation, and greenhouse gas absorption. It reduces the productivity of ecosystems, thereby shrinking nature's basket of goods and services, from which we constantly draw.

Moreover, it destabilizes ecosystems and weakens their ability to deal with natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes, and with human-caused stresses, such as pollution and climate change.

Tourism, especially nature tourism, is closely linked to biodiversity and the attractions created by a rich and varied environment. It can also cause loss of biodiversity when land and resources are strained by excessive use, and when impacts on vegetation, wildlife, mountain, marine and coastal environments and water resources exceed the carrying capacity. This loss of biodiversity in fact means loss of tourism potential.

Jon Lozano and Lorea Bereciartua

Sources of information:

http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/EnvironmentalImpacts/EnvironmentalImpactsofTourism-GlobalLevel/tabid/78777/Default.aspx