| || Fair tourism > Poor air quality |
Air pollution and fine dust pollution caused by car traffic have reached disastrous levels in developing countries, especially in the big cities.
- Use local public transport as often as you can. That way, you will get to know the country and its people.
- Take a scarf or something similar with you to cover your nose and mouth on an "open" drive in rickshaws or scooters.
- Don't rent a car, rather take a taxi for some hours or for the whole day. In most cases, the price is about the same. However, by taking a taxi you do not only reduce the risk for accidents but help at the same time to secure a job. Furthermore, the driver knows his or her way around the place and will surely be delighted to give you a few Insider-tips.
- Give preference to food and drinks from the region. Long transport routes don't only cost a lot of money, but also pollute the environment.
- Climate Change has arrived at our doorsteps, too. Extreme weather phenomena, such as weeklong heat waves as well as flooding after intense rainfalls, are no longer uncommon in Germany.
- For developing countries, these damages are even more harmful and regularly occur for many years. Severe losses of harvest caused by increasing drought threaten the existence of small farmer families. Rising sea levels become drivers for migration.
- The consequences of the Climate Change are distributed unfair and uneven. Humans in developing countries are hit particularly hard, despite the fact that they contribute relatively little to the causes.
- Even a global temperature rise of just 1.5 degrees will cause irreversible damages and will claim the life of many people. If the emissions are not reduced drastically uncontrollable human and environmental consequences are expected.
- Eight per cent of the global emissions from climate-harming greenhouse gases arise from tourism– that equals nearly every 12th ton. The majority of the tourism emissions are produced when travelling to and from the destination – in particularly when flying in an airplane, be it for private holidays or for business trips. In the next 40 years, air travel emissions are expected to increase four to sixfold in case there is no reduction of flight volume.
- As every reaction to climate change is expensive and often even unproductive, measures to avoid emissions and slow down the climate change are considered to be the best protection with utmost priority. In tourism, transport emissions still contribute the most heavily to climate change – i.e. the journey for long distance travels often makes up to three quarters of the total climate impact.
- The airplane is the most climate-damaging mode of transport. Flying does not only emit carbon dioxide (CO2). In high altitudes, airplanes cause cirrus clouds, contrails or nitric oxides that also contribute to global warming. To take into account these additional effects on the world’s climate, the mere CO2-emissions need to be tripled (RFI-Factor). Taking into account this factor, a flying roundtrip from Europe to the Caribbean’s sums up to about 5 tons of CO2. This equals more than three times as many as emissions as an average Indian citizen emits per year with an average amount of 1.6 tons.
