Register now: Press briefing on CSR and biodiversity in tourism, 5 March 2015, Berlin

How can responsible travel agencies, holiday destinations and tour operators can make an even greater contribution to the protection of the environment and the promotion of biodiversity? Register now for our press briefing on 5 March in Berlin and discuss with us.

More and more tourists are keen to pay attention to the environmental impacts of their holidays. In any case, preserving the diversity of habitats is already of central importance to the tourist industry. Many companies in the industry engage voluntarily with environmental issues, orienting their corporate social responsibility strategies accordingly.

There is nonetheless still considerable room for improvement on this issue, as demonstrated in a baseline study carried out by adelphi, ECOTRANS e.V. and the Global Nature Fund. This research was funded by the Federal German Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), and received funds from the Federal German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). One of the central findings from the study is that many standard and award-giving organisations still support more traditional measures for the protection of habitats and species. They seldom take advantage of more modern concepts such as No-Net-Loss or other principles which aim to ensure that activities which have an impact on our natural surroundings avoid impacting adversely on biological diversity. It was particularly surprising to the authors that standards and awards do not deal with ecosystem services, despite the key role they play in the tourist industry.

On the basis of the study's findings, adelphi, ECOTRANS e.V. and the Global Nature Fund have for the first time presented concrete recommendations, applicable worldwide, on the issue of which aspects of biodiversity should be included in all CSR labels and award criteria. The recommendations show in detail how responsible travel agencies, holiday destinations and tour operators can make an even greater contribution to the promotion of biodiversity. We are hoping to discuss with you how those stakeholders can be sensitised to structured management of biodiversity issues:

• What role can the media play?
• How could a Knowledge Bank on biodiversity and tourism or a Green Travel Map of Germany help you in your research?
• How can biodiversity issues that are particularly relevant for the tourist industry be best communicated?

Thus, for discussion and interdisciplinary exchange on these and other questions, we are delighted to invite you to adelphi's offices on the 5th of March from 10am to Midday: Köthener Straße 2 D-10963 Berlin (close to Potsdamer Platz)

If you wish to register, please get in touch (via email or by phone), and make sure you leave us your contact details:

Daniel Weiss, Senior Project Manager at adelphi
Phone: +49 (0)30 89 000 68 74
Email: weissadelphi [dot] de (weiss[at]adelphi[dot]de)

You will be receiving the preliminary programme shortly. Participation is free but places are limited. We will unfortunately not be able to compensate travel costs.

» Publication: Integration of biodiversity into CSR processes in tourism - Baseline Study