&Beyond’s Response to the Twin Challenges of Pollution and Climate Change in the Context of SDGs

Abstract

Oceans, which cover 70% of the earth's surface , are critical for environmental and socioeconomic development. They are essential to global weather systems acting as regulators and critical to mitigation and adaptation with regard to climate change. Oceans are valuable to many economic sectors, particularly to the tourism industry. They form the foundation for ocean and coastal tourism, an aspect associated with the growing blue economy phenomenon. Lately, however, oceans have been at the focal point of global discourse due to the risks-caused by land and air pollution and climate change-they pose to marine life and other ecosystem services. This chapter shows how a tourism company (&Beyond) is contributing to sustainably managing oceans in response to a cluster of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), amongst them SDGs 12, 13, 14 and 17. The chapter provides a model that can be used by other tourism companies and related industries to ensure ocean sustainability in the context of climate change. It recommends that the challenges faced by oceans should be dealt with urgently-to ensure continued sustenance of ocean ecosystem services and enhance the blue economy for the benefit of the global citizenry.