PETConference 2011 - PETConference 2011 Peace, Environment and Tourism Conference

Tourism is important not only for economic development, but also for fostering brotherhood among different societies, cultures and nations. Above all, tourism is important in building peace through cross-cultural and social harmony. However, peace is also a pre-condition for the development and growth in tourism sector. Growth-led economic development model has caused tremendous pressure on the finite natural resources, leading to alarming rate of environmental deterioration in the world. The unequal access to resources, including natural resources, and the unequal distribution of the fruits of economic development combined with the burden of environmental damages to the level of crisis in some cases have been the underlying causes of many of the conflicts around the world. Thus, peace and environment have intricate relationship and tourism is both an instrument and the fall-out casualty of peace. Further, the changing natural environment, more recently the climate change, has added one more dimension in this complex equation between environment, peace and tourism.

Global Peace Association(GPA) and Himalayan Alliance for Climate Change (HIMCCA) have teamed up to organize a conference on “Peace, Environment and Tourism” in Nepal in order to bring together the knowledge, experience and the practices in these three seemingly diverse but closely interrelated areas of importance to mankind, and develop common understanding and policy measures to manage these sectors for the benefit of all. This conference aims to bring researchers, practitioners, policy makers, planners, government agencies, international development agencies, civil society organizations and entrepreneurs together into a common forum and to exchange the knowledge and experiences in better understanding the close interrelationship among the three sectors for finding the pathways for peace.

Specific objectives

To develop and advocate innovative policies for sustainable peace and development
To explore new paradigm of tourism development and environmental management for global peace
To promote environmental sustainability at local, national, regional and global levels
To discuss on the specific opportunities and challenges to tourism development in the country
To explore the new prospective of social entrepreneurship in tourism
To promote ethical and innovative entrepreneurs
To encourage corporate social responsibilities

http://www.petconference.org.np