ABSTRACT
In 2012 the United Nations will convene the Rio+20 Summit. In the agenda of that summit deliberations on green economy for poverty eradication in the context of sustainable development and institutional arrangements for sustainable development will figure prominently. Both issues are of critical importance to the future of sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector. This chapter explores the greening opportunities for tourism in the context of sustainable development and climate change in UNESCO biosphere reserves. A brief overview of the relationship between climate change and sustainable development is followed by a description of the biosphere reserve concept and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). Specific characteristics of the biosphere reserve and the World Network which make them important assets for global experimentation with sustainable tourism development in the post-Rio+20 period are emphasized. The chapter illustrates the use of biosphere reserves as ‘learning laboratories for sustainable tourism development’ using information from selected biosphere reserves.
