Checking In with Professor James Higham

COP29 is over – so after eleven days of discussions and negotiations involving 65,000 delegates from around the world, all of which concluded on Friday last week, what was in it for tourism? And are we any closer to decarbonising tourism?

Sustainable tourism is at a crossroad. There is a well-established link between tourism growth and environmental impacts. But there are competing interests at stake and proponents of continual growth are playing hard ball.

Last week I attended the TIA Summit. It was a great event – really well organised – and a great opportunity to showcase the leading businesses in innovation and sustainability. It also showcased a few cases of ‘must do better’ and a yawning gap between the dominate industry players and the world leading innovation of small and medium businesses.

About two years ago Christchurch International Airport Ltd revealed a plan to transform the sleepy Central Otago township of Tarras into an international airport. The proposal caused disbelief initially - soon followed by anger. What follows makes for a fascinating story, the latest chapter of which perhaps offers a little bit of vindication.

Last week the first cruise ships of the new season arrived back into New Zealand ports. The New Zealand media tend to mark the return of cruise ships with excitement. But many are unhappy about cruise ships visiting their port communities. So what are the issues – and why are views so divided? 

We have seen some remarkable advances in space transportation in recent days and months. But space flight risks the destruction of both terrestrial and celestial environments, through extension into the cosmos of economic systems that have contributed to inequality and climate catastrophe on Earth. These risk justify very careful consideration, because the stakes couldn’t be higher.

As this years United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP29 - in Baku approaches next month, it is timely to ask how progress towards decarbonising tourism is going. The answer is, not nearly as quickly as required. A big part of the problem is that we lack the coordinated approach to tourism that is needed to advance urgent sector transformation.

DNA has opened up new avenues of research in genealogy, human evolution, and criminal forensics among others. So what are the links between DNA and sustainable tourism? In this episode, I consider the impact DNA research and technology may have on sustainable tourism - specifically sex tourism where exploitation of women is rife.