From the United Nations COP29 climate summit in Baku, we find the core of all the issues facing humanity, not only hypertourism. With air pollution choking and poisoning their people back home, Balkan nations’ leaders blame everyone and everything but their mismanagement. The summit was about the $1 trillion per year developed countries sought to break even on the climate problem, but $300 billion is all world leaders could agree upon.
In 2022 the 218 cruise ships operating in Europe emitted more sulphur oxides (SOx) than one billion cars. This is 4.4 times more than all the cars in Europe.
Reading a report from Balkan Insight this morning, I was immediately gob-smacked to learn that Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic cannot do anything about climate change until the war in Ukraine is settled. You read that correctly. Vucic is so involved in ensuring that there is peace in a country almost 300 kilometers from his country’s border that he cannot take any action that involves accomplishing anything for citizens.
Serbia’s president also says the world must focus on peace in Ukraine and the Middle East before considering other problems. So, that means world leadership cannot multitask. This is too bad since Serbia’s pollution is currently 4.1 times the WHO annual air quality guideline. And Winter will only make it worse.
Blame Game
Ludicrousness. Vucic, like several other Balkan leaders at the summit, stutters and mutters about their “commitment” to addressing climate change. Still, since we have not overthrown every government in disgust, anything suffices world leadership as an excuse for incorrect action or inaction. I could go down the list of countries and reveal this same level of mediocrity and uselessness, but let me focus on the country I live in at the moment and tourism.
Thank goodness Greece runs mainly on tourism, and the air quality here is good. In fact, until air quality changes in the dead of Winter, most Balkan nations will have good to moderate air quality. As for places like North Macedonia and Armenia, those destinations are among the 40 worst places on Earth for air pollution. Surprised, I’ll bet. Montenegro is 41st, Serbia is 43rd, and Turkey is 44th, by the way.
I wonder if I am the only one who wonders if the almost $200 billion Western countries have given Ukraine to kill Russians (and their own) could have been put to better use. Given Donald Trump’s landslide victory against the people who provoked the Ukraine mess, I am sure several hundred million others are with me.
Tourism’s Role
Regarding tourism, COP26 established the Glasgow Declaration, which proposed a coordinated plan for tourism to support halving emissions by 2050. However, this commitment was only about measuring, planning, and reporting, something every politician and bureaucrat on Earth understands as fluffiness. It seems relevant to point out that CO2 emissions from tourism are forecasted in 2019 to increase by 25% by 2030 from 2016.
As of 2023, the Glasgow Declaration is nowhere unless you consider planning to plan and measure, along with more planning progress. Read the PDF from 2023 and see if you can glean the same conclusion. It is no surprise that back in 2021, Serbia used the excuse that funding needed to be more adequate for the country to do much of anything to address the goals of the Glasgow Declaration. Officials agreed to meet some more and asserted that billions from the private sector would be welcome.
In Greece, dramatic steps were taken recently when the country’s Climate Crisis Minister procured 414 new fire vehicles to help stop Greece from burning down completely. Talk about proactive. The ex-basketball star, Vassilis Kikilias, has also been Greece’s Tourism Minister, the Minister of Health, the Minister for Public Order and Citizen Protection, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, and a member of parliament. So we know he is familiar with all problems Greek. For the reader, you can get a good handle on what’s going on by reading this quote from GTP, which should grab you.
Greece’s cruise industry is set for record-breaking years in 2024 and 2025. It is on track to surpass 7 million passengers this year, marking an increase of approximately 20 per cent compared to 2023.
Let me leave you with some actual data. Back in 2022, before Greece’s tourism geniuses snagged millions more cruise passengers, the 218 cruise ships operating in Europe emitted more sulphur oxides (SOx) than one billion cars. This is 4.4 times more than all the cars in Europe. Take note, this is only SOx, not CO2. The 2023 and 2024 numbers are 10-20% higher, by the way. And let’s not factor in increased air travel to Greece, desertification, or other issues. This report would be a book. The point is we will not make any of the “planned” prescriptions to mediate climate change except more summits and planning. And it’s all Putin’s fault, or somebody else’s