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Published: 26 November 2012

Economics, not environment, drives climate change action


Efforts to help Queensland’s tourism industry to adapt to the effects of climate change are likely to be focused on areas that attract the most tourist dollars rather than those with the greatest need, according to new UQ research.

University of Queensland researchers fear that natural heritage such as the Great Barrier Reef and northern tropical rainforests could lose out if investment decisions are made on the basis of economic values rather than environmental value.
University of Queensland researchers fear that natural heritage such as the Great Barrier Reef and northern tropical rainforests could lose out if investment decisions are made on the basis of economic values rather than environmental value.
Credit: Toby Hudson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Research by UQ Business School Masters students suggests that Queensland tourism could be badly affected by climate change.

With the industry generating close to $19 billion in annual revenue and accounting for one in 10 jobs, measures to adapt to overcome the adverse effects would be necessary.

Using different climate change scenarios, the students compared leading tourist destinations on their tourism revenue, their vulnerability to climate change, and their ability to adapt to it.

They found that the south-east Queensland coast, from a purely business perspective, should be given the highest priority for climate change action, with the lowest priority given to the Australian outback and northern tropical rainforest regions of the state.

UQ Business School Lecturer and corporate sustainability expert, Dr Martina Linnenluecke, said, ‘This research is one of the first studies to combine insights into the costs of adaptation, as well as the vulnerabilities of different regions.

‘It identified that those areas most vulnerable to climate change, including The Great Barrier Reef and northern tropical rainforests, might be neglected in adaptation decisions, simply because they do not generate much of the tourism sector’s overall revenue.

‘The findings of this project are yet another indicator that governments, industry sectors and individual businesses need to carefully consider adaptation actions and decisions – and to consider both economic and environmental implications.’

Source: University of Queensland






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