Publications & Reviews

In many countries including the UK new legislation on renewable energy gives communities the right to produce, consume and sell energy and this is an important tool in the quest for a fossil-free, democratic, energy system.

The State of the Sector Report 2020 is the fourth annual review of the community energy sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This report draws upon information from community energy practitioners to improve understanding of, and support for, community energy throughout 2019. In total, 163 community energy organisations responded to the State of the Sector 2020 survey with data previously provided by a further 137 organisations included within this report.

• 2019 was a year of climate activism: The UK parliament, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Government and many local authorities declared climate emergencies.

• 2019 was a challenging year for the community energy sector: The sector has been negatively impacted by recent reductions in subsidy support and unclear government strategy.

• Community energy is playing an ever-increasing role in technological and social innovation: The sector is developing new business models and exploring innovative new approaches to deliver a low carbon future.

• Community energy across the UK needs clear guidance and support: The sector must be supported to access new emerging opportunities, ensuring the long-term growth and impact of
the sector.

Access the Report

June 30, 2020 - A timely new book authored by Simon Hudson is fresh off the press documenting the impact of COVID-19 on the travel industry. The book, called COVID-19 & Travel: Impacts, Responses and Outcomes, covers a number of important topics including why the pandemic and travel were inextricably linked, how the different sectors of the industry reacted to the crisis, leadership and communication strategies employed by the industry during the crisis, and the social, economic and environmental impacts of the pandemic as they relate to travel.

A dozen insightful case studies from all over the world bring the book to life. We see how the cruise industry suddenly went from being the golden child of the tourism sector to a sober symbol of the deadly disease; we witness the meltdown of ski resorts around the world in one weekend; and we see how Richard Branson coped with what he considers to be his greatest challenge yet. There are also some interesting ‘best practices’ case studies from New Zealand, Vietnam and Canada.

Hudson also makes predictions for the future of travel after COVID-19, a future driven by technology. We see how hotels are employing virus-killing robots to do the cleaning; how beaches are using drones to monitor social distancing; how airports have installed thermal cameras and disinfection tunnels; and how attractions are using apps to monitor social distancing. In short, the industry is having to adapt to survive – something Hudson has coined ‘COVID-aptability’.

Finally, there are some fascinating bits of trivia sprinkled throughout the book. Did you know, for example, that the word ‘quarantine’ originated in Italy in the 14th century; that the Spanish flu did not start in Spain at all; that sales of bread machines went up 652% during the pandemic; and that when France advised citizens to stop the traditional bise (kiss) this year, they were not the first country to do this? King Henry VI banned kissing in England in the 15th century in an effort to stymie the spread of the bubonic plague.

The book is available from Goodfellow Publishers in paperback, hardback and for download.

20% Discount for Ecoclub Members! - Current Members, please contact us

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the global travel industry to a complete standstill, and it is unlikely to ever be the same again. While reflecting on how this interruption would impact the future of tourism, author, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bruce Poon Tip, has concluded that despite the hardships being presented to many of us, we have been given the gift of reshaping how we travel in the future.

Using his experience as the founder of G Adventures, he convicingly argues that we do not have to travel less but we have to travel better!

Unlearn: The Year the Earth Stood Still is a free, short ‘instabook’ (e-book) written by Bruce Poon Tip while in isolation during April 2020.

Download at https://unlearn.travel/

The global economic recession and financial turmoil from COVID-19 are derailing implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Even before the pandemic, the 2020 Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR) of the Inter-agency Task Force noted that there was backsliding in many areas. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, global financial markets have witnessed heavy losses and intense volatility. Particularly worrisome is the prospect of a new debt crisis. The FSDR highlights both immediate and longer-term actions, including arresting the backslide, to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Published by IIED, March 2020
Porras, I and Steele, P (2020) Making the market work for nature:
how biocredits can protect biodiversity and reduce poverty. IIED
Issue Paper. IIED, London.

ISBN 978-1-78431-782-9

Tackling biodiversity loss is a growing priority for human survival. Introducing incentives for positive actions could play a key role in helping to reverse this loss. This paper explores the potential of using a novel approach to promote biodiversity conservation.

Biodiversity credits or ‘biocredits’ are coherent units of measurement that track conservation actions and outcomes and can help improve tracking and transparency. When they are well-designed, they can make investments in biodiversity management more financially attractive, for example, by attracting private-sector finance.

They can be used by governments to monitor their actions and report on biodiversity commitments. And, as much of the world’s biodiversity and its richest biodiversity spots are often found in remote and poor tropical regions, we also argue that biocredits must be inclusive, and founded on fair benefit-sharing principles.

Download at https://pubs.iied.org/16664IIED 

About the authors

Ina Porras was formerly a senior researcher in IIED’s Shaping
Sustainable Markets Group. She now works as an Economics
Adviser at the Department for International Development, UK.

Paul Steele is chief economist in IIED’s Shaping Sustainable
Markets Group (www.iied.org/users/paul-steele).

Mitigating the Climate Forcing of Aircraft Contrails by Small-Scale Diversions and Technology Adoption? by Roger Teoh, Ulrich Schumann, Arnab Majumdar, and Marc E. J. Stettler. Published 12 February 2020 in Environmental Science & Technology.

Altering the altitudes of less than two per cent of flights could reduce contrail-linked climate change by 59 per cent, says a new Imperial College study.

Aircraft contrails ? the white streaks aircraft leave in the sky ? could be as bad for the climate as their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Now, new Imperial College London-led research has found that flight altitude changes of just 2000 feet could lessen their effect.

This, the researchers say, combined with using cleaner aircraft engines, could reduce contrail-caused harm to the climate by up to 90 per cent.

Lead author Dr Marc Stettler, of Imperial?s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said: ?According to our study, changing the altitude of a small number of flights could significantly reduce the climate effects of aviation contrails. This new method could very quickly reduce the overall climate impact of the aviation industry.?

The research is published in Environmental Science & Technology.

Researchers at Ohio University have published a new study in collaboration with Ugandan scientists, cautioning that humans place endangered mountain gorillas at risk of disease transmission during tourism encounters. In a new study published in Frontiers in Public Health, Ohio University researchers documented tourist-gorilla spacing during 53 gorilla treks during a recent tourism high season in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Annalisa Weber, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Nancy J. Stevens. Lack of Rule-Adherence During Mountain Gorilla Tourism Encounters in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, Places Gorillas at Risk From Human Disease. Frontiers in Public Health, 2020; 8 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00001

Access the full article

Gentilini, Ugo; Grosh, Margaret; Rigolini, Jamele; Yemtsov, Ruslan. 2020. Exploring Universal Basic Income : A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. 

Universal basic income (UBI) is emerging as one of the most hotly debated issues in development and social protection policy. But what are the features of UBI? What is it meant to achieve? How do we know, and what don’t we know, about its performance? What does it take to implement it in practice? Drawing from global evidence, literature, and survey data, this volume provides a framework to elucidate issues and trade-offs in UBI with a view to help inform choices around its appropriateness and feasibility in different contexts. Specifically, the book examines how UBI differs from or complements other social assistance programs in terms of objectives, coverage, incidence, adequacy, incentives, effects on poverty and inequality, financing, political economy, and implementation. It also reviews past and current country experiences, surveys the full range of existing policy proposals, provides original results from micro–tax benefit simulations, and sets out a range of considerations around the analytics and practice of UBI.

Access Full Book

Proyrungroj, R. (2020). Volunteer Tourism: Motivations of Thai Tourists and Western Tourists. European Journal of Tourism Research 24, 2408.

Abstract

This study examines the motivations of Thai tourists and Western tourists in engaging in a volunteer tourism vacation in Bangkok, Thailand, and analyses how and why the motivations of each group are similar to or different from each other. An interpretive paradigm utilising a qualitative methodological approach was employed. The informants consisted of fourteen Thai tourists and fifteen Western tourists, all of which were selected by convenient sampling and snowball sampling. The findings revealed that there were some common motivations between these tourists including: (i) to gain new experiences; (ii) personal development and growth; and (iii) personal interest in certain volunteer activities. However, it was also found that there were differences in motivations between these groups, including: (i) to gain inner happiness; (ii) to help others; (iii) to learn/be immersed in local culture in a deeper way; (iv) to meet new friends; and (v) to visit Bangkok and Thailand. The first motivation was found only in the group of Thai tourists whereas the rest belonged to only the Western tourists.

Keywords: volunteer tourism, motivations, Thai tourists, Western Tourists

Access the Full Article

Article in Journal of Travel Research Article, November 12, 2019
Authors: Sangwon Park¹, Iis P. Tussyadiah²
1. School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom

Abstract
As peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation service often involves multistage interactions between hosts and guests in online and offline settings, trust between the parties involved is of the utmost importance. In particular, the possibility of interacting offline in P2P service delivery highlights the significance of interpersonal trust between hosts and guests. Accordingly, this study examines the formation of trusting beliefs in hosts, comprising prospective guests’ perception of the ability, benevolence, and integrity of the hosts. This study estimated the effects of two antecedents—propensity to trust and trust in P2P platform—on trusting beliefs, as well as the consequence of trusting beliefs, that is, behavioral intention to book from the host. Important implications for trust formation in a P2P accommodation marketplace are provided.

Keywords sharing economy, peer-to-peer accommodation, interpersonal trust, trusting beliefs

Summary of findings: Perceptions of ability, benevolence, and integrity are all of equal importance for P2P accommodation guests. In describing themselves online, hosts should not only portray their capability for hosting but also appear helpful in terms of providing recommendations about the destination. Hosts should include references of past efforts of making guests feel at home and of their willingness to respond quickly to their questions. Evidence of hosts’ honesty and sincerity should be included in host profiles. Regular updates of host profiles, facilities and room availability are also important in increasing trust.

Access the Full Article