Climate change threatens tourism

New York.

World Heritage sites in Uganda and Tanzania — and the tourism earnings they generate — are under growing threat from climate change, the United Nations reported on Friday.

The mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park will likely experience increased stress “due to alterations in habitat conditions and perhaps greater vulnerability of the animals to human diseases,” the report said.

“Warmer temperatures will bring changes to mountain gorilla habitat and over the longer term are likely to reduce the amount of montane forest available in their current range,” added the study carried out by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme, Unesco and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In Tanzania, the 1000-year-old ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani are threatened by coastal flooding “as sea levels rise due to climate change and the city’s vulnerability to damaging storm surges grows,” the report warned.

Along with the nearby port of Songo Mnara, Kilwa Kisiwani has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site because of its role in “the growth of Swahili culture, Indian Ocean commerce from mediaeval times, and the arrival of Islam in East Africa,” the UN noted.

Tourism accounts for about 14 per cent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product, the report estimated.

“And while it mainly centres on wildlife and national parks, several historic and cultural sites are important draws for visitors, too,” the report pointed out.

Each visitor must pay a fee of $600 to view the gorillas in their habitat, helping make gorilla trekking Uganda’s single-largest source of tourism revenue.

Gorilla tourism is estimated to produce up to $40 million a year, with the potential to generate as much as $150 million, the report said.

“Illegal incursions into the park occur for timber cutting, firewood collection, honey gathering and poaching,” the report said. “Charcoal production is a major threat in the region, as is oil and gas development.”

Bwindi and Kilwa Kisiwani are among 31 Unesco natural and cultural World Heritage sites in 29 countries that the UN says are increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

“As the report’s findings underscore, achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to a level well below 2 degrees Celsius is vitally important to protecting our World Heritage for current and future generations,” said Mechtild Rössler, director of Unesco’s World Heritage Center.