Daniel Wahl
COLLA BORATIVE ADVANTAGE AND QUALITATIVE GROWTH TOURISM AS A CATALYST FOR REGIONAL REGENERATION & CLIMATE RESILIENCE
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DANIEL WAHL Daniel Christian Wahl is an international consultant and educator specialising in biologically-inspired whole systems design and transformative innovation. He is internationally recognised as a leading proponent and practitioner of regenerative bioregional development, for his work on place-sensitive SDG implementation, and for his contributions to the field of planetary health. Dr. Wahl’s book Designing Regenerative Cultures is not only one of the most comprehensive assessments of the challenges generated by “business as usual” but also charts multiple pathways to a healthier, thriving future. Daniel Christian Wahl shares his vision for healthier tourism, his deep understanding of natural systems and ways in which humans can work with them to generate thriving communities as well as robust, better performing economies.
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WE’RE ALL PASSENG THE LIVING SPACES 107,000 km/h
Travelling at 107,000 km/h around the sun
828,000 km/h
Moving at a speed of 828,000 km/h
200 billion
Part of the Milky Way, together with some 200 billion stars
GERS ON SHIP ‘EARTH’ 100 billion
Part of just one of the 100 billion galaxies in the universe
We all have to understand our own responsibility. It all comes down to integrity and ethics. Something is right when it protects the vitality and integrity of the biotic community, and wrong when it does otherwise. We’ve been ignoring the fact that we deeply depend on all other lifeforms as well. We’ve pumped CO2 and greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. And now we’re beginning to see the consequences of it all…
“There are no more passengers aboard United Spaceship Planet Earth. We are all crew. And the survival of humanity depends on the integrity of the individual.” Buckminster Fuller, 1982
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CLIMATE CHANGE A THE COLLAPSE OF ECOSYSTEMS
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The increasing demand for food, water and energy all affect each other—you need water to run power stations—but they’re all affected by climate change, and in turn all affect climate change too. This creates a vicious circle where everything feeds on itself, until we reach the point of no return.
ENER
Increased by 203
50% FOOD
Increased demand by 2030 (FAO)
CLIM CHA
AND Time is running out to avoid irreversible cataclysmic climate change
0%
RGY
d demand 30 (EA)
MATE ANGE
30% WATER
Increased demand by 2030 (FPR)
For millions of years the oceans have acted as giant buffers absorbing CO2. But this has caused a process of ocean acidification and when that gets to a certain point, then instead of absorbing CO2, the ocean starts releasing it. Combining all these trigger points means we are very close to the stage where we won’t be able to reverse cataclysmic climate change, with the consequence being the end of life on earth as we know it. The international panel on climate change said last year that we have just 12 years left…
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STAYING WITHIN P BOUNDARIES REQU FOUNDATIONS It was Kate Raworth who came up with the idea that it’s not just about planetary boundaries. In order to stay within planetary boundaries, we need to create the socio-economic foundations for people to be able to thrive. So, she came up with the idea of ‘Doughnut economics’, in which we have an ecological ceiling and social foundations. The model’s central hole depicts the proportion of people who lack access to life’s essentials (healthcare, education, equity and so on) while the outer crust represents the ecological ceilings (planetary boundaries) that life depends on and which must not be overshot. Consequently, an economy is considered prosperous when all twelve social foundations are met without overshooting any of the nine ecological ceilings. This situation is represented by the area between the two rings, namely the safe and just space for humanity.
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Beyond the boundary Boundary not quantified
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(OVER-)TOURISM IN MALLORCA IN 2018 • 13.8 million international tourists • 5.2 million Spanish tourists • 29 million passengers coming through Palma Airport • 44% of regional GDP is from tourism • 16,000 businesses • 30.8% directly employed by tourism • 85% of the regional GDP (direct & indirect)
• Numbers grow • Income grows
BUT
• In • G
nequality grows GDP seems to be a completely inadequate measure of success
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TOURISM AS PER U NO LONGER AN OP IT’S TIME TO MOVE FROM A COMPETIT A COLLABORATIVE
USUAL IS PTION. E TIVE TO E ADVANTAGE. The negative impact of tourism and travel:
• Stimulating unbridled urbanisation • O ffering a Trojan horse for neo-liberal economic globalisation • Causing roughly 5% of today’s anthropogenic climate change • Increasing population pressure on a given place, city or region • Increasing all associated ecological impacts and socio-economic inequalities • Affecting the education system and work force negatively • Over-tourism can destroy a destination by sheer numbers, turning flair and beauty into a commodity until they disappear
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WHAT ROLE CAN TO IN ENABLING US TO PLANETARY BOUND Tourism and the classic exponential growth curve Tourism is one industry that has caused a human impact on the globe, as it follows the classic exponential growth curve. But every life form experiences this initial growth before starting to level out. We humans stopped growing at some point in terms of size and started to grow in quality—we learned, we became wiser. That’s what we now have to do as a species, we have to learn how to make this shift.
Why REGENERATION is necessa
Because we have already added so much damage to the syst sustainability — which means not adding any more damage — longer enough. We must begin to restore, regenerating the sy communities and ecosystems we live in.
OURISM PLAY O LIVE WITHIN DARIES?
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tem, — is no ystems,
Tourism has plenty of positive potential as an enabler of and catalyst for: • • • • • • • • • • •
Building and improving regional resilience infrastructure Facilitating increased community capacity to adapt to climate change Restoring healthy ecosystem functions at the landscape scale Nurturing regional food, water and renewable energy sovereignty Implementing and incentivising regenerative agriculture and local food economies Strengthening regional circular biomaterials economies Increasing the capacity to meet regional needs at the regional scale Investing in research, innovation and region-to-region collaboration Promoting regional civic participation and global solidarity Enabling intercultural, intergenerational and crosssector learning and exchange Transforming education by creating options for life-long learning
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THE METAMORPHO OF TOURISM The need for transformative tourism So much innovation today is a kind of adaptive change that just uses the building blocks we already have, the elements that are already available, making them function differently rather than fundamentally transforming the industry from within. But the change we now need in tourism is transformative change. We have to be very careful to keep the bigger picture in our sights. Visit Flanders is asking these deeper questions—not about how we tweak tourism a little here and there, making it more effective or more efficient, but how we transform tourism in such a way that it actually becomes an agent itself, a catalyst for positive change in place and in region.
OSIS
Regenerating regions & building resilience The only way to create global change is to work with your local neighbourhood and community. It’s in the local communities where action and transformation happen.
REGIONAL REGENER WIN-WIN OUTCOM ELEGANT SOLUTION BIO-CULTURAL UNI
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Regenerative practice results in: • • • • • • •
•
People connecting with each other, a place, and the planet Building capacity for people in their town or city to help themselves Increased civic participation and social engagement Regional economic multipliers increasing costeffectiveness Global impact by scaling out (not up) through a glocal approach Increased personal and business accountability and response-ability Transformative innovation creates elegant solutions adapted to the bio-cultural uniqueness of place Increased community and regional resilience in the face of climate change and economic volatility (collapse)
OUTP
RATION CREATES MES: NS ADAPTED TO THE IQUENESS OF A PLACE
PUTS
Regenerating conditions conducive to life: • • • •
• •
•
Climate Change adaptation, mitigation and reversal Conservation of existing biodiversity and eventual increase by re-wilding Restoring healthy ecosystem functions (for utilitarian and intrinsic value) Creating vibrant regional economies and proper livelihood opportunities Increasing ecological and social capital strengthens regional economies Increasing regional capacity for renewable energy, regenerative food systems, water management and bioregional learning and innovation Link between planetary ecosystems, population and personal health enables wellbeing and thriving
Regenerative practice …
Regenerative practice results in: • • • • •
Living Capital of Healthy Ecosystem/ Biosphere Human Capital of educated and skilled citizens Manufactured Capital of existing infrastructure etc. Social Capital of community cohesion / collaboration Financial Capital (based on multiple types of currency)
INPU
… builds soil for flourishing places
UTS
Regenerating conditions conducive to life: • • • • •
Participatory decision-making and governance Supportive institutions (education, capacity building, health, etc.) Regenerative supply networks (no hidden externalities in supply chains) Cross-sector collaboration (Public, Private, Civil Society and Fourth Sector) Widespread stakeholder engagement in regional and planetary regeneration
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FROM TOURIST TO PILGRIM…
“We have to stop being tourists and start being pilgrims on earth.”
Tourists might ask of a place, ‘what does this place have to offer me’? A pilgrim comes with respect, seeking to learn, wanting to share, looking to tread lightly in the places they visit.
Don’t ask what tourism and travel can do for you, ask how you can transform the industry to help create climate resilience and regeneration in your region.
More information:
www.traveltotomorrow.be www.danielchristianwahl.com Social Media:
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