The politics of climate change and tourist development: evidence from priority destinations in Rio de Janeiro
Abstract
Climate change refers to global-scale transformations that affect the planet’s climate system, driven by both natural and anthropogenic factors. These changes have stimulated adaptation and mitigation strategies aimed at strengthening the resilience of socioecological systems. The relationship between climate change and tourism is complex and ambiguous, as the climate crisis can generate profound transformations in tourist destinations while the tourism sector remains one of the main contributors to the global carbon footprint. This study investigates how tourist destinations respond to climate risks through governance mechanisms, focusing on key destinations in the State of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), an important gateway for Brazilian tourism and one of the territories most vulnerable to extreme events. The objective was to analyze the integration of the climate agenda into tourism policies, identifying the perceptions of public and private representatives who operate in the tourism sector. The study sought to categorize existing mitigation and risk adaptation actions and to understand the level of coordination between climate and tourism policies. The research is exploratory and descriptive, employing a mixed-methods approach structured in four stages: literature review; data collection from risk area databases; content analysis of public policies; and primary data collection with local tourism agents. The results indicate that the main tourist destinations in the State of Rio de Janeiro are also those with the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The findings reveal insufficient coordination between the climate and tourism agendas, and although climate change is perceived as an existing risk, there is evidence of climate denialism within the tourism sector of the destinations analyzed. The main concerns are predominantly economic in nature, and there is a lack of clarity regarding responsibilities in climate risk governance.
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