1.3.3 Measuring the environmental impact of tourism with monitoring and evaluation tools

One of the main difficulties that the tourism industry faces today is the lack of proper standard measurements of its environmental impact. This lack of common metrics hampers comparison at the EU and international level and makes it difficult to decide upon future actions. Nevertheless, the big players and alliances from the tourism industry have already taken a step forward and agreed on a set of tools and methodologies to assess tourism environmental impact, while smaller tourism businesses are also adopting sustainable actions, measuring their impacts on the environment, and reducing their footprint (Europark Federation, 2023).

To evaluate climate change impacts and adaptation strategies, a wide range of existing methodologies can be used.  For instance, the Nairobi work programme (United Nations, n.d.) on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change (NWP) was established at COP 11 (December 2005, in Nairobi) to facilitate and catalyze the development and dissemination of information and knowledge that would inform and support adaptation policies and practices, with a focus on developing countries. Since then, the NWP has engaged countries and a growing network of partner organizations, experts, and other relevant organizations from all fields and world regions in sharing the latest information and knowledge, to bridge knowledge gaps and scale-up action in response to the adaptation knowledge needs identified by the Parties to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement. Having said that, technology plays a huge role in the fight against climate change. New technology allows us to better obtain information about the climate, which contributes to our knowledge and ability to respond to the changes taking place. At the same time, it improved our ability to reduce human impact on climate change (ACTION project, Module 8). 

Moreover, under the EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, major building or development projects in the EU must first be assessed for their impact on the environment. The EIA procedure guarantees environmental protection and transparency regarding the decision-making process for several public and private projects, ensuring that environmental concerns are considered from the very beginning of new building or development projects, or their changes/extensions, and allowing the public to actively engage in the EIA procedure.

The EIA assesses the direct and indirect significant impact of a project based on a wide range of environmental factors, including population and human health, biodiversity, land, soil, water, air, climate, landscape, material assets, and cultural heritage. For projects related to tourism development, it is up to individual EU Member States to decide if there will be an EIA on a case-by-case basis or by setting specific criteria (such as the location, size, or type of project). Nevertheless, EIA can help stakeholders to comply with environmental standards, thus balancing the economic, environmental, and social aspects of tourism development and ensuring that the benefits outweigh the costs.