Page 266 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

The Effect of Climate Change on Tourism

In fact, it is obvious that all tourism activities such as sea tourism, culture
tourism, mountaineering and winter tourism depend on natural resources,
and the extreme weather conditions linked to climate change have an impact
on all types of tourism. Due to that, for a sustainable tourism planning in the
sector, the assessment of the effects of climate change is of great importance.
The concept of climate change is defined as “any systematic alteration or
statistically significant variation in either the average state of the climate
elements such as precipitation, temperature, winds, or pressure; or in its
variability, sustained over a finite time period (decades or longer).” (Phliander,
2008: 1130). The scientific studies implemented by IPCC reveal that the main
cause of climate change experienced in modern world is the anthropogenic
activities (IPCC, 2014). In the 5 Assessment Report of IPCC (2014) it is
th
mentioned that the most important reason (95%) for the increase in surface
temperature from the second half of the 20th century onwards is greenhouse
gases caused by anthropogenic activities. Compared to previously issued
reports, this report suggests that there is concrete evidence to this effect
(MGM, 2021).
The dramatic role of anthropogenic activities on climate change was also
mentioned in a study titled Global Human-Made Mass Exceeds All Living
Biomass, published in Nature in 2020, and implemented by the Weizmann
Science Institute based in Israel (Elhacham et al, 2020).
These issues were first emphasized in a document named as United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), ratified in the
UN Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. UNFCCC, of which Türkiye is a
party as well, defines climate change as the negative changes that damage
the composition of the atmosphere, caused by natural factors as well as
anthropogenic activities (Birpınar, 2022; Eraydın et al, 2011).
The greenhouse emissions resulting from the overconsumption of fossil-
based energy in different sectors due to the rapid population growth,
deforestation, overuse of natural land and resources and economic activities
lead to the emergence of climate change (Birpınar, 2022: 24). It is stated
that climate change has been experienced throughout historical ages and
especially after industrial revolution, it gained further momentum due to
anthropogenic activities (IPCC, 2014). The World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) State of the Global Climate 2021 report, issued in November 2021,
states that global temperatures increased by 1,2 °C, reporting the highest
temperatures in the last 7 years (WMO, 2021).
In line with the extreme weather conditions, there seems to be an increase
in public awareness for urgent action concerning climate change. After the
ratification of UNFCCC by 194 countries in 1992 for a joint fight against climate

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