The Global Environment Facility Council approved in December 2024 an exciting sustainable tourism initiative that will be led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The ultimate goal of the iCOAST (Integrated Collaborative Approaches to Sustainable Tourism) program is to reduce pollution of water, soil, and air; reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses; reduce the over-consumption of natural resources, products, and materials; and reverse the tourism sector’s impact on biodiversity loss, while creating equitable livelihoods and jobs for local communities.
iCOAST will be implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UNDP, UN Environment Programme, UN Industrial Development Organization, and WWF, in collaboration with UN Tourism, the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, and Minamata Convention on Mercury secretariats and other partners.
The program will work with the governments and tourism sectors of Belize, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Seychelles, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Türkiye, and Vanuatu to adopt sustainable and circular tourism practices through four key actions:
- Improving policies and regulations
- Increasing access to funding
- Reducing the footprint of tourism-related supply chains
- Supporting global knowledge dissemination and exchange.
Supply chains that will be addressed by iCOAST include:
- Cooling
- Food and beverages
- Plastics
- Construction
- Textiles and furnishings
- Electronics
