Glaciers: Managing Cold Environments

Question 1

What are people doing with tourism to manage cold environments?

Answer 1

sustainable tourism is becoming a growing industry, charities such as WWF promoting sustainable tourism to protect these areas. Polar extreme tourism encourages positive management. Visitors are limited, so only smaller cruise ships can land (100 people at a time). Cruise ships must also have a permit and regulations are very tight (e.g. shoes checked). Tourist are also encouraged to be aware of the risks and contribute to charities. Some are also protected by law, e.g. areas of permafrost in Alaska have restricted access and construction.

Question 2

How can climate deals help manage the cold environments?

Answer 2

Climate Change deals such as Paris Climate Deal (COP21) which aims to limit global temps to 2 DC above pre-industrial levels, supports developing countries, creates public interaction and awareness schemes and meet every 5 years to review and improve goals. As well as this there is the EU 20-20-20, which is 20% reduction in GHG emissions, 20% of energy coming from renewable sources and 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020.

Question 3

What are other things to help manage cold environments?

Answer 3

• laws are also in place for overexploition of natural resources, e.g. the Antartica Treaty and Madrid Protocol have banned mining in Antartica.
• Extensive fishing quotas and monitoring systems in polar environments, as well as ban on all military activity.
• As well as this, there are also charities and campaigns, which spread awareness and create petitions to make contact with decision makers (Greenpeace is an example).

Question 4

How could we manage cold environments in the future?

Answer 4

• further developments into renewable energy (lessen CO2 emissions)
• Possible need to further protect oil exploitation as finite resources run out
• Stricter polices for reduced pollution
• Flooding mitigation if sea levels rise - if every glacier and ice sheet were to melt, sea levels would rise by 70m.

Question 5

How might the tourist industry in the Alps adapt in the future?

Answer 5

• building new resorts at higher altitudes (e.g. Pitzal in Austria) and offering different types of activities in the summer.
• However, finding new ways to bring more people in means more CO2 emissions due to travel plus traffic congestion, so global warming- less ice. A VISCOUS CYCLE