25 years ago, WWF mobilized a group of experts from both conservation and tourism to publish 10 principles and guidelines for Arctic tourism, called Linking Tourism and Conservation in the Arctic.

This same year the Arctic Council celebrates its 25th anniversary at a time of unprecedented opportunity and threat for this key region on the planet.

We don’t believe in coincidences, so we at Linking Tourism & Conservation bring together experts from all eight Arctic countries and global players to look for answers to the following questions:

1. What impact did the WWF Arctic tourism guidelines from 1996, and subsequent ones, produce, and what lessons can be learned from their value today?
2. What lessons from the Arctic Council’s programmes on Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and Protection of Marine Environment (PAME) can be drawn to achieve more support from the tourism sector in the future?
3. What opportunities for the tourism sector do the 3 Rio Conventions this year offer, so that the Arctic becomes the first region in the world to achieve most of the SDGs, in particular SDG 14 & 15, including the expected target of protecting 30% of its territory?

SPEAKERS

Paula Kankaanpää, Chair of the Arctic Programme Protection of Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), Helsinki, Finland: Protection of Arctic Marine Environment

Sergey Rybakov, CEO Slava Fetisov Foundation, Moscow, Russia: Conservation and tourism in the Russian Arctic

Stefan Norris, Board member of the Svalbard Environment Fund, Oslo, Norway: The  Svalbard Example – the roots of Linking Tourism & Conservation

The webinar will be introduced and moderated by Peter Prokosch, Chair of Linking Tourism & Conservation (LT&C), Arendal, Norway. Each of the above speakers will have 8 minutes to provide answers to the above questions. Thereafter we have a discussion round and Q&A session, where all participants can contribute

Interested to participate?