Norway: UN pitches "sustainable tourism" as way forward for Svalbard's PAs
13 August 2010 – With the rate of ice breaking off icebergs and glaciers picking up pace, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling for an innovative way to help conserve the Arctic’s unique habitat: sustainable tourism.
In Svalbard – a picturesque archipelago in northern Norway which is the closest that visitors can usually get to the North Pole, 1,000 kilometres away – a joint campaign by conservation groups and tour operators in the 1990s has helped set up protected areas and new laws protecting biodiversity.
Polar bears and other native species now have protected status in Svalbard, with the hunting of many species being outlawed.
In a bid to replicate these successes, UNEP and its partner GRID-Arendal in Norway plan to examine how sustainable tourism can help to support the management and development of protected areas.