UN Chief Concerned Over Impact Of Travel On Climate Change

CLIMATE SCIENCE

Some airlines have drawn up plans to allow ticket buyers to pay an extra fee to pay for the planting of trees to help offset the greenhouse gas emissions of their flights.

by Staff Writers
Madrid (AFP) Jun 05, 2007
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon expressed concern during a visit to Spain on Tuesday over the impact that the drastic rise in global travel is having on climate change. "Some 840 million people travel across borders each year. An even greater number move within their own countries," he said at the Madrid headquarters of the UN's World Tourism Organization.

"This mass travel contributes massively to greenhouse gas emissions," he added.

Ban encouraged the development of more measures to help reduce the impact on the environment of tourism, which he said helps boost cultural understanding, drive economic growth and eliminate poverty.

"In fact, tourism has proved one of the leading ways for the least developed countries to increase their participation in the global economy," he said.

"And by supporting traditional economic sectors like crafts and textiles, it plays a significant role in cultural preservation," he added.

Tourism often requires extensive travel, such as long flights and long drives, that scientists warn are increasingly responsible for the emission of climate-warming greenhouse gases.

Some airlines have drawn up plans to allow ticket buyers to pay an extra fee to pay for the planting of trees to help offset the greenhouse gas emissions of their flights.

Ban will travel on Thursday to the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm in Germany for the Group of Eight summit, which is expected to focus on climate change and how to tackle it.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Email This Article

CLIMATE SCIENCE

Indonesia Threatened By Rising Sea Levels

Jakarta (AFP) Jun 04, 2007
Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change as global warming threatens to raise sea levels and flood coastal farming areas, threatening food security, a report released Monday said. The report sponsored by the World Bank and Britain's Department for International Development said global warming could increase temperatures, shorten the rainy season and intensify rainfall, leading to a significant fall in rice yields.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT Locals Block Work At Indonesian Mud Volcano Steel Dam Plan To Plug Indonesian Mud Volcano Chinese Space Agency Joins The International Charter Space And Major Disasters LSU And Los Alamos Team Up To Improve Evacuation Plans	CLIMATE SCIENCE UN Chief Concerned Over Impact Of Travel On Climate Change Indonesia Threatened By Rising Sea Levels Global Warming House Committee Visits Greenland Climate Change Burning Issue At G8 Summit As US Claims Leadership Role
EARTH OBSERVATION US Experts Predict Nine Atlantic Hurricanes This Season Space Systems/Loral Awarded NASA Contract For Landsat Data Continuity Mission Accommodation Study Tracking A Hot Spot In The Center Of The Biggest Ocean On Earth MetOp-A Takes Up Service	ENERGY TECH Airline Sector Aims For Zero Emisssions By 2050 Florida Rejects Clean Coal Bid As Public Ignores Cost Of National Self Sufficiency Powerful Cyclone Threatens Oil Industry In Oman LPP Combustion Technology Proves That Renewable Soy-Based Biodiesel Can Burn as Cleanly as Natural Gas
EPIDEMICS US Firm To Trial Bird Flu Vaccine In Indonesia And Hong Kong Avian Influenza Survivor Antibodies Effective At Neutralising H5N1 Strain System To Pinpoint Airline Passengers Who Contaminate Cabins AIDS Remains Global Worry	FLORA AND FAUNA Komodo Dragon Mauls Boy To Death In Indonesia Agent Slows Aging In Mice Cells Re-Energize To Come Back From The Brink Of Death Wildlife Talks Focus On Survival And Human Livelihood As Asian Trade Booms
FROTH AND BUBBLE Kenyan Ingenuity Takes A Byte Out Of E-Waste Satellites Track Human Exposure To Fine Particle Pollution Serious Health Risk In Naples Area As Garbage System Backs Up Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova Choking On Toxic Waste	ABOUT US Upright Walking May Have Begun In The Trees Amazon Tribesman Takes Rainforest Message To Japan Color Vision Drove Primates To Develop Red Skin And Hair Northrop Grumman Dedicates Habitat For Humanity House

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement