Solimar Joins Global Partnership for Oceans
In an effort to address tourism’s impact on our oceans, Solimar partners with an organization dedicated to protecting marine resources.
The Global Partnership for Oceans, officially launched at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, is a partnership of over 100 governments, international agencies, civil society groups, and private sector companies focused on mobilizing knowledge and financial resources to address the threats to the health of the world’s oceans. Not surprisingly, tourism is one of the biggest threats to the health, productivity and resilience of the world’s oceans. Solimar is committed to addressing the problems of overfishing, pollution and habitat loss as we also address tourism issues across the globe.
Solimar uses sustainable tourism to foster the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine resources and ecosystems through various methods. By creating market access for small and mediums enterprises and providing incentives for those enterprises to adopt tourism “best practices,” their impact on fragile coastal and marine environments is greatly mitigated. Solimar also works to raise visitor engagement in marine conservation areas through awareness building campaigns and “codes of conduct” that target issues such as responsible seafood choices and visitor impacts to coral reefs.
In addition, resources for local tourism enterprises have also been developed by Solimar to help improve tourism products and services along with sustainability. The “Tourism Toolkit” covers everything from business planning to operations and management to sales and marketing. In addition, Solimar documented 16 unique “Conservation Tourism Strategies” that guide local enterprises on ways in which they can directly support marine conservation efforts.
Through these efforts and continued education, Solimar firmly believes tourism can not only avoid hurting delicate marine eco-systems, but actually help to promote their survival, which is why we are proud to officially join with the Global Partnership for Oceans.
