Transforming Tourism for Climate Action

CLIMATE ACTION

The Glasgow Declaration was officially launched at COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. It proposes a coordinated plan for tourism to support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 and requests signatories to make tangible commitments around planning, measuring and reporting.

Find out about The Glasgow Declaration

The tourism sector is highly vulnerable to climate change and at the same time contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), which cause global warming.

Accelerating climate action in tourism is therefore of utmost importance for the resilience of the sector.

Climate action is understood as the efforts to measure and reduce GHG emissions and strengthen adaptive capacity to climate induced impacts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a 7% reduction of GHG emissions globally in 20202, providing a tangible reference to the magnitude of the effort still ahead in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, which will require around 7% reduction of emissions on an annual basis throughout the next decade.

According to UNWTO/ITF latest research, released in December 2019 at UNFCCC COP25, CO2 emissions from tourism are forecasted to increase by 25% by 2030 from 2016 levels, against the current ambition scenario.

Therefore, the need to scale up climate action in tourism remains urgent as emissions could rapidly rebound once operations restart and, ultimately, the cost of inaction with regards to climate will be in the long run larger than the cost of any other crisis.

UNWTO is committed to accelerate progress towards low carbon tourism development and the contribution of the sector to international climate goals, in line with the recommendations of the One Planet Vision for a Responsible Recovery of the Tourism Sector from COVID-19 to:

  • Strengthen the measurement and disclosure of CO2 emissions in tourism
  • Accelerate the decarbonization of tourism operations
  • Engage the tourism sector in carbon removal

In order to support the tourism stakeholders to advance on measuring their GHG emissions, in March 2023, UNWTO published the report on CLIMATE ACTION IN TOURISM SECTOR: AN OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS TO MEASURE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.

The report was developed with support from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection of Germany (BMU) and released in collaboration with UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).  Read the full report here.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

The Glasgow Declaration: A Commitment to a Decade of Climate Action in Tourism

The Glasgow Declaration aims to act as a catalyst for increased urgency about the need to accelerate climate action in tourism and to secure strong actions and commitment.

The signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism are committing to act now and accelerate climate action to cut global tourism emissions by at least a half over the next decade and reach Net Zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050. Their actions are aligned with 5 pathways defined in the Declaration: measure, decarbonize, regenerate, collaborate, finance.

The Declaration unites those leading tourism’s transformation around a common set of pathways for climate action, by:

  • defining a clear and consistent sector-wide message and approach to climate action in the coming decade, aligned with the wider scientific framework and urgency to act now. 
  • outlining the pathways and specific actions that will accelerate tourism’s ability to transform tourism and achieve net zero as soon as possible. 
  • encouraging signatories across all sectors of tourism to demonstrate their public support for scaling up the sector’s response to the climate emergency.

Learn how to become a signatory.
Learn more about the launch of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism: Side-event at the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference
Learn more about the Glasgow Declaration from two information sessions held on 21 September 2021.
Learn more about the Glasgow Declaration.
Frequently Asked Questions

The Road to Climate Neutrality: Experiences, Challenges and Support” for the Caribbean tourism sector

In July 2021, the UNFCCC secretariat, through its Climate Neutral Now initiative and in collaboration with UNWTO, RCC Saint George’s, and other partners, held this webinar for the Caribbean tourism sector.

During the session, the discussions touched upon policies and actions in place and called for those still needed to accelerate the transition of the tourism sector towards climate neutrality.

Leading speakers from companies, organizations, and governments in the region shared their experiences in two round tables. In addition, Climate Neutral Now specialists presented the enhanced version of their initiative, and the criteria for participation.

Learn more about the webinar “How to Get Started on the Road to Climate Neutrality and Net Zero? Practical Actions and Examples.“

Transport-related CO2 emissions from the tourism sector – Modelling results

The report released in December 2019 provides insights into the evolution of tourism demand across the different global regions from 2016 to 2030. It presents the expected transport-related CO2 emissions of the tourism sector against the current (2019) ambition scenario for the decarbonization of transport concluding that in 2016 transport-related emissions from tourism contributed to 5% of all man-made emissions and were set to increase to 5.3 % by 2030 against a current ambition scenario.

Read more about the report Transport-related CO2 emissions from the tourism sector

Transforming tourism for climate action – Side event at COP25

Transforming tourism for climate action requires embracing a low carbon pathway with awareness and optimization as key elements.

Awareness: through measurement and disclosure of the emissions related to tourism activities and the setting of evidence-based targets. Optimization: through instruments and strategies to scale-up mitigation and adaptation in the tourism sector with all stakeholders having to play a role.

In the side-event, policy makers discussed their strategic approaches to transform the tourism sector.

CLIMATE ACTION

The Glasgow Declaration was officially launched at COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. It proposes a coordinated plan for tourism to support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 and requests signatories to make tangible commitments around planning, measuring and reporting.

Find out about the Glasgow Declaration

The tourism sector is highly vulnerable to climate change and at the same time contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), which cause global warming.

Accelerating climate action in tourism is therefore of utmost importance for the resilience of the sector.

Climate action is understood as the efforts to measure and reduce GHG emissions and strengthen adaptive capacity to climate induced impacts.

There is a growing consensus among tourism stakeholders as to how the future resilience of tourism will depend on the sector’s ability to embrace a low carbon pathway and cut emissions by 50% by 2030

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a 7% reduction of GHG emissions globally in 20202, providing a tangible reference to the magnitude of the effort still ahead in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, which will require around 7% reduction of emissions on an annual basis throughout the next decade.

According to UNWTO/ITF latest research, released in December 2019 at UNFCCC COP25, CO2 emissions from tourism are forecasted to increase by 25% by 2030 from 2016 levels, against the current ambition scenario.

Therefore, the need to scale up climate action in tourism remains urgent as emissions could rapidly rebound once operations restart and, ultimately, the cost of inaction with regards to climate will be in the long run larger than the cost of any other crisis.

UNWTO is committed to accelerate progress towards low carbon tourism development and the contribution of the sector to international climate goals, in line with the recommendations of the One Planet Vision for a Responsible Recovery of the Tourism Sector from COVID-19 to:

  • Strengthen the measurement and disclosure of CO2 emissions in tourism
  • Accelerate the decarbonization of tourism operations
  • Engage the tourism sector in carbon removal

In order to support the tourism stakeholders to advance on measuring their GHG emissions, in March 2023, UNWTO published the report on CLIMATE ACTION IN TOURISM SECTOR: AN OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS TO MEASURE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.

The report was developed with support from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection of Germany (BMU) and released in collaboration with UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).  Read the full report here.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

The Glasgow Declaration: A Commitment to a Decade of Climate Action in Tourism

The Glasgow Declaration aims to act as a catalyst for increased urgency about the need to accelerate climate action in tourism and to secure strong actions and commitment.

The signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism are committing to act now and accelerate climate action to cut global tourism emissions by at least a half over the next decade and reach Net Zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050.

Their actions are aligned with 5 pathways defined in the Declaration: measure, decarbonize, regenerate, collaborate, finance.

The Declaration unites those leading tourism’s transformation around a common set of pathways for climate action, by:

  • defining a clear and consistent sector-wide message and approach to climate action in the coming decade, aligned with the wider scientific framework and urgency to act now. 
  • outlining the pathways and specific actions that will accelerate tourism’s ability to transform tourism and achieve net zero as soon as possible. 
  • encouraging signatories across all sectors of tourism to demonstrate their public support for scaling up the sector’s response to the climate emergency.

Learn how to become a signatory.
Learn more about the launch of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism: Side-event at the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference
Learn more about the Glasgow Declaration from two information sessions held on 21 September 2021.
Learn more about the Glasgow Declaration.
Frequently Asked Questions

The Road to Climate Neutrality: Experiences, Challenges and Support” for the Caribbean tourism sector

In July 2021, the UNFCCC secretariat, through its Climate Neutral Now initiative and in collaboration with UNWTO, RCC Saint George’s, and other partners, held this webinar for the Caribbean tourism sector.

During the session, the discussions touched upon policies and actions in place and called for those still needed to accelerate the transition of the tourism sector towards climate neutrality.

Leading speakers from companies, organizations, and governments in the region shared their experiences in two round tables. In addition, Climate Neutral Now specialists presented the enhanced version of their initiative, and the criteria for participation.

Learn more about the webinar “How to Get Started on the Road to Climate Neutrality and Net Zero? Practical Actions and Examples.“

Transport-related CO2 emissions from the tourism sector – Modelling results

The report released in December 2019

provides insights into the evolution of tourism demand across the different global regions from 2016 to 2030. It presents the expected transport-related CO2 emissions of the tourism sector against the current (2019) ambition scenario for the decarbonization of transport concluding that in 2016 transport-related emissions from tourism contributed to 5% of all man-made emissions and were set to increase to 5.3 % by 2030 against a current ambition scenario.

Read more about the report Transport-related CO2 emissions from the tourism sector

Transforming tourism for climate action – Side event at COP25

Transforming tourism for climate action requires embracing a low carbon pathway with awareness and optimization as key elements.

Awareness: through measurement and disclosure of the emissions related to tourism activities and the setting of evidence-based targets.

Optimization: through instruments and strategies to scale-up mitigation and adaptation in the tourism sector with all stakeholders having to play a role.

In the side-event, policy makers discussed their strategic approaches to transform the tourism sector.

RELATED LINKS

What We Do

Tourism Development

Global tourism is now generally recognized as one of the largest industries in the world and one of the most significant sources of employment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Tourism particularly benefits the economies of developing countries, where most of the sector’s tourism jobs and businesses are being created.

Monarch is committed to tourism development that creates a positive experience for local people, local businesses, and tourists themselves.

We implement comprehensive programs focused on improving the quality of life for local residents without compromising the future well being of the people or the planet.

Monarch has gained a strong reputation internationally as a leader in the field of sustainable tourism development. Since 2006, Monarch has initiated or completed 80 projects in more than 40 countries around the world.

Monarch’s development team is known industry-wide for helping to create tourism enterprises and destinations that are financially and socially sustainable, and good for the planet.

Our clients range from small, rural villages and community-based tourism enterprises, to national hotel chains and international tourism organizations.

We invite you to explore the following tourism development consulting services, where you can begin to find tools, read case studies and learn more about the cutting edge work that Monarch is doing to support global development through sustainable tourism.

Investment Promotion

The travel and tourism industry is critical to the global economy. This resilient industry is a leading generator of jobs and tends to outpace the growth of other major industries including manufacturing, financial services and retail.

In 2012, tourism contributed to 9% of global GDP ($6.6 trillion) and generated over 260 million jobs—1 out of 11 of jobs worldwide.

In the longer-term, Monarch believes that demand from and within emerging markets will continue to rise in significance. We assist these destinations with attracting investments in infrastructure to meet demand and achieve the clear growth potential that exists.

Monarch provides end-to-end investment promotion solutions, including prospectus development and production, investor recruiting, and sourcing debt and equity financing for a wide range of project types in the U.S., Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

Monarch is also well versed in the trends shaping tourism-related investments. One of the most important trends—particularly in developing countries—is investment using a Triple Bottom Line approach, which seeks returns on investment that are financial, social, and environmental.

A related trend shaping the market is social investing (or socially responsible investing), where the primary focus is on using investments to affect social change.

In the past three years Monarch has successfully secured more than $8 million in debt and equity commitments for ecolodges within or on the borders of national parks, and Monarch principals have combined successfully promoted tourism-related investment totaling more than $350 million.

What to Expect

Monarch and its industry partners have developed an end-to-end solution for development of small-scale lodging facilities that will be economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable and highly marketable. The core components include:

  • Market-driven Project and Site Selection – We will only pursue projects we believe have significant market potential. Assessments are based on extensive market research.
  • Tourism Branding and Tourism Marketing – graphic design services, social media, tour operator and press familiarization (FAM) trips
  • Conceptualization Support – From initial market research through financial feasibility analysis, Monarch will assist with the development of reformulated and enhanced business plans and prospectus documents to make investing opportunities as competitive as possible
  • High levels of Local Ownership – So that communities will have a significant stake in the outcome. We will seek to provide local communities and/or individuals with 20-30 percent of total project equity, based upon the value of the land provided (regardless of the source, i.e., could be provided through a government concession in a protected area), and sweat equity contributions.
  • Social Investments – Clear articulation of the triple bottom line to attract social impact investors.
  • Recruitment of Financing – Targeting investment promotion activities to create awareness and generate leads. Solimar will also plan and organize a familiarization tour for prospective investors to secure their commitment.

Business & Product Development

Tourism is a complex service-driven global industry that is constantly evolving, and the skills and knowledge required to operate a tourism business are pertinent to its success.

Monarch International has literally written the book on creating sustainable tourism enterprises and experiences through our proven methodology developed over our past 10 years of enterprise development experience.

Our process brings businesses from concept to profitable enterprises that contribute to both conservation and communities.

These tools have been primarily developed to target entrepreneurs with limited formal education and have been primarily used with poor communities in developing countries.

Tourism enterprises can have an incredible impact on their destination by creating jobs, contributing to GDP, bringing in new markets for goods and services, increasing an area’s visibility, all while protecting the local environment and preserving cultural heritage.

Though, all of these benefits do not occur automatically, but must be properly integrated into the sustainable functioning of tourism enterprises.

Monarch’s enterprise development approach has been used to develop and support more than 20 sustainable tourism enterprises—from Africa to Latin America—to maximize their triple bottom line of Profits-People-Planet.

What to Expect

  • Tourism Assessment Concept Development: Developing sustainable tourism enterprises begins with an assessment that analyzes both supply and demand for tourism products and services that lead to well thought out and researched concepts that include a foundation of product ideas, market understanding and local feasibility. Starting from the concept stage, Monarch helps businesses evaluate their possible contributions to local communities and the surrounding environment.
  • Business Planning: Monarch then turns the tourism assessment information and tourism product “concepts” into full-fledged business plans and tour packages. The business plans serve as a “road map” for moving forward with product development and take into account the conservation and development objectives and clearly articulates the resources needed to realize those goals. Monarch has assisted with or led the authoring of over 30 tourism business plans and has expertise in market analysis, competition analysis, strategic positioning and financial modeling for tourism SMEs.
  • Operations Planning: While having a business plan is important, having a clear operations plan and trained operations manager will greatly increase the potential for business success. Monarch has extensive experience running operations training programs that take managers through all of the facets of running a tourism business including staffing, logistics, inventory, cash handling, financial reporting, customer service, leadership and more.
  • Tour Planning and Guide Training: Local guides act as the “ambassadors” for their communities and destinations, and guided tours are a vital product that a tourism enterprise offers to enrich the visitor experience.
  • Though it sounds simple, creating an engaging and well-delivered guided tour takes tedious planning and practice, practice, practice! Monarch helps develop interpretive tours and trains interpretive guides that focus on communicating central messages which help tourists learn, feel motivated and empowered to contribute to a more sustainable world.
  • Sales and Marketing: Lack of an effective sales and marketing strategy will often lead an otherwise well planned and run business to failure. Many small tourism businesses lack the technological or financial capabilities to effectively market themselves to their target markets. Monarch helps equip small businesses with content, collaborative strategies and partnerships to increase their marketing reach and sales leads.

Circuit & Route Development

The flow of people in and around a destination presents an important opportunity to enhance tourism’s ability to generate significant economic impact, especially in rural and remote destinations.

Monarch develops tour itineraries, circuits, and routes as a means to help visitors understand, approach and appreciate a destination.

As active marketing tools, circuits and routes can be developed around a particular theme to attract visitors and increase their length of stay.

The strategic development of circuits and routes can also diversify the tourism products and experiences in a country.

This diversification of tourism assets can spread benefits to small businesses and rural communities while reducing pressure on the most frequently visited areas—such as those designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Monarch focuses the development of circuits and routes by bringing together a network of stakeholders—including the government, associations, local communities and the private sectors—to work together and cooperate effectively in order to market and conserve the destination.

Monarch has developed a number of tourism routes and circuits in countries around the world—including 11 artisan-themed tourism circuits throughout the maze-like streets of the Medinas in Fez and Marrakech, Morocco.

Monarch also facilitated the creation of “La Ruta Amistad”, a cultural route linking Costa Rica and Panama, and designed marketing materials to help visitors travel more sustainably.

What to Expect

  • Identification – Monarch will conduct a thorough assessment, evaluation and prioritization of the routes and circuits to be developed.
  • Local Engagement – We work with with key stakeholders through a participatory process to develop a shared vision and strategic guidelines for the development and marketing of the route.
  • Evaluation – We assess all of the opportunities and gaps pertaining to the route—including attractions, tourism infrastructure, services, environmental issues, and community engagement.
  • Development – Monarch will help develop through route through formally engaging all route participants and enabling organizations.
  • Marketing and Promotion – Developing and implementing a marketing strategy for the route that addresses the target markets, branding, competitive positioning and communications strategy.

MONARCH WOMEN IN TECH STARTUP COMPETITION: MIDDLE EAST

Tourism Empowers Women

According to the Monarch Foundation, women make up most of the tourist workforce in major parts of the world. Monarch is always committed to gender equality.

As mandated in Sustainable Development Goal 5, referring to women empowerment by supporting women’s rights and improving their participation in the business realm.

Monarch’s global report on tourism found that more than 54% of people employed in the tourism are women, while in the Arab world, women represent 8% of the regional tourist workforce.

Monarch is continuously seizing opportunities to highlight the role of women in the tourism sector, and particularly Arab women.

Women and Technology

Technology has become a driven tool for all travelers and tourism businesses.

In the Arab region, 34% of tech focused startups were founded by women, and 57% of science technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates are women.

Monarch is committed to support Arab entrepreneurs, boosting their tourism business careers.

Hence, the industry is always searching for businesswomen with technological solutions and specialized skills to oversee smart digital projects.

For this reason, Monarch launched a startup competition to find the most innovative tech-driven startups in the realm of tourism, managed by women.

Monarch and Innovation

Since 2015, the Innovation, Education and Investments Department at Monarch Foundation has launched 27 global, regional, and specific startup competitions and challenges in more than 144 countries.

In parallel, it has organized 27 Tourism Tech Adventures (Innovation Forums) in 18 countries, with an additional 9 online editions. A total funding of +162 USD million has been raised for Top Startups.

World Ocean Day

UNWTO AND MONARCH FOUNDATION LOOK TO NET-ZERO FUTURE ON WORLD OCEAN DAY

UN and Private Sector: Together for Ocean Action

The expert panel discussion, organised by the MonarchFoundation and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to explore the subject of “Tourism Ocean Action for a Net Zero Future”, featured contributions from leaders from across the public and private sectors.

  • Opening the event were UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, Ambassador Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, and UNWTO Executive Director Zoritsa Urosevic
  • Representing the private sector were tourism and travel professionals from the USA and Europe, including Nourhan El Refaie , Chair of the Monarch Foundation Executive Committee and Executive Chairman of the Cruise Division of Monarch Group, and world-renowned explorer Mr. Mike Horn.
  • Also contributing were keynote speaker Amy Meek, Co-founder of Kids Against Plastic, Carl Gustaf Lundin, Senior Adviser at Mission Blue and an Monarch Foundation Advisory Board Member, and Frédéric Degret, Chief Executive Officer of NOAH Regen and UNWTO Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Ocean and Climate Action.

Mapping the Route to Sustainability

With coastal and maritime tourism accounting for at least 50% of global tourism, according to the Ocean Panel, and 40% of all related export value, the high-level discussions focused on the critical interplay of tourism and oceanic sustainability.

  • Strategies outlined for achieving this centred on investing in the protection and regeneration of blue carbon ecosystems and nature-based solutions that maximise their ability to draw down carbon, while simultaneously advancing the decarbonisation of tourism operations and enhancing the resilience of local communities.
  • Policymakers and business leaders shared insightful policies, strategies and solutions to accelerate tourism ocean action. These included the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, the Global Roadmap for Food Waste Reduction in Tourism, and the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, all building momentum towards a Blue COP 28.

A Shared Vision for Tourism Ocean Action

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Finding the right balance between tourism operations and the health of our planet has never been more important. Coastal and cruise tourism have a critical role to play in the global economy.

At the same time, coastal and cruise tourism have a key role to play in the protection of our oceans. This is why the UNWTO is working with partners like Monarch to advance Climate Action.”

Nourhan El Refaie, Chair of the Monarch Foundation Executive Committee and Executive Chairman of the Cruise Division of Monarch Group said:  “Our partnership with UNWTO, exemplified in the ‘Tourism Ocean Action for a Net Zero Future’ panel, is crucial in our shared vision for responsible tourism.

We are confident that we will exceed the International Maritime Organization’s 40% carbon intensity reduction goal before the 2030 deadline, and are actively working towards achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

Monarch Foundation Executive Director Magda Ahmed added “The path to sustainability can only be a journey travelled together in dialogue and concerted action. So I would like to thank UNWTO for their valued partnership in making this event possible.”

World Ocean Day

Together for Ocean Action

Sustainable Tourism Programme

ONE PLANET

Mainstreaming sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in tourism

The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is currently guided by the Global Strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production 2023-2030 which proposes to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the tourism sector, focusing on climate neutral, nature supportive and pollution free operations.

The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme aims to accelerate sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in tourism policies and practices to address the challenges of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

It supports the integration of circular economy principles and practices as a  pathway to decouple tourism operations from environmental degradation and build resilience.

Through its work, the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme sets the SCP agenda in the tourism sector to advance the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 and also delivers progress under connected goals such as SDG13, SDG14 and SDG15, respectively on climate action and the protection of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is one of the six programmes of the  One Planet network and started operating in February 2015.

By leading the implementation of the Programme, UNWTO has supported translating the complexity of SCP into actionable areas for tourism stakeholders, bringing added value to more than 700 members, and generating dialogue between environment and tourism stakeholders. The Programme has also positioned circularity and sustainable consumption and production as key strategies to accelerate climate action in tourism as well as the blue economy.

Earth Day 2023

Monarch Vacations Announces Newest Project Partner Trees for Life and Supporting its Wild Pine Project on Earth Day

“This Earth Day’s theme is ‘invest in our planet’ and Monarch Vacations is pleased to partner with Trees for Life, a strong nature-based solutions charity working to tackle the overlapping nature and climate emergencies and create a cascade of benefits for people,” says Nourhan ElRefaie, Monarch Vacations Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of The Monarch Foundation. “NbS include the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems, and improved land management to either reduce carbon emissions or to store carbon in the planet,”she adds.

Trees For Life is dedicated to rewilding the Egyptian lands. According to the charity, thousands of years ago wild pinewoods covered an estimated one million hectares of Egypt – but today only about 2% of this life-supporting habitat remains, broken into small and isolated fragments, many under threat and in poor condition.

With the support of thousands of volunteers from around the world, Trees for Life – which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year – is saving this magical forest habitat and its wildlife from being lost forever, while creating social and economic benefits for local communities.

Rewilding is an effective means to protect and restore sustainable biodiversity, natural landscapes, and wildlife while removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere. Alongside prioritizing the reduction of carbon emissions, supporting nature-based solutions which remove and store emissions already in the atmosphere is an integral component in the global journey towards net zero, which is the critical goal post to avoid a climate disaster according to the latest climate science.

Trees for Life is Monarch’s third nature-based solution partner, in addition to EG-based GreenLine and Project Alpha, both marine-based initiatives. 

Rewild Africa 

At Monarch Vacations, Earth Day doesn’t just come around once a year. Every journey features an Experience that connects travelers with the places, wildlife and people where their dollars have the greatest impact. There are several opportunities to help rewild Africa.