Reducing Local and Direct Environmental Impacts Associated with Diving and Snorkelling Tourism Activities to Increase Reef Resilience
Location
Green Fins is currently active in fourteen (14) countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Palau, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The challenge
Coral reefs are globally important ecosystems facing intense and unprecedented pressures. Major global issues like marine debris, coral bleaching, and illegal fishing mean that experts predict at least 60% of the world’s coral reefs will be destroyed within the next 30 years. Meanwhile, the tourism industry dependent upon these reefs continues to show considerable economic growth. According to a study conducted in 2017 by The Nature Conservancy’s Mapping Ocean Wealth (MOW) initiative, coral reefs generate $36 billion a year. Coastal and marine tourism supports more than 6.5 million jobs—second only to industrial fishing. With anticipated global growth rates of more than 3.5%, coastal and marine tourism is projected to be the largest value-adding segment of the ocean economy by 2030, at 26%.
While the pandemic has impacted these projections, current estimates expect travel rates and growth to be back on track by 2024, with adventure tourism being one of the first to recover. It is also anticipated that those destinations that were just emerging pre-pandemic will see extremely intense growth rates, putting pressures on infrastructure and services which are potentially not prepared for, or experienced in this.
Green Fins is currently active in 18 locations throughout Asia including the Maldives. Photo © The Reef-World Foundation
Tourism can constitute a locally significant driver of environmental degradation, putting pressures on the ecosystem through direct and indirect impacts associated with developing infrastructure as well as other activities. SCUBA diving and snorkeling are nowadays accessible to, and enjoyed by, a mass audience, which brings more and more people into marine habitats with very limited knowledge of the fragility of the environment. Intensive SCUBA diving and boating can directly damage marine habitats, making them susceptible to other stresses and degrading marine life health. Reports have shown that areas heavily used for recreational diving show higher incidences of coral tissue abrasion from anchor damage and diver damage as well as increased coral disease when compared to less frequently visited sites. As a result, marine tourism currently constitutes an increasing threat to the natural resource from which it has grown, and thus risks to undermine a key source of development and income to coastal nations. Local impacts such as these will greatly reduce reef resilience in the face of global threats like climate change. If left unmanaged, the rapid growth of the diving and snorkelling industry could cause significant damage to coral reefs, particularly in areas of high biodiversity.
Actions taken
There are a number of past initiatives on tourism impact management in general and diving specifically, with a number of guidelines available to help individual divers reduce their impact on the reef (e.g., Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques, CMAS “10 Golden Rules”, Coral Reef Alliance “Best Practice When Diving”, Project AWARE “Ten ways a diver can protect the underwater environment”, Mesoamerican Reef Alliance “A Practical Guide to Good Practice”). However, there are no initiatives like Green Fins which combines a code of conduct with performance assessment and public-private collaboration.
Green Fins Members in the Philippines. Photo © The Reef-World Foundation
Green Fins was initiated in 2004 to transform the threat of the diving and snorkeling industry into an opportunity to protect coral reefs. Green Fins is implemented internationally through a partnership between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and The Reef-World Foundation (Reef-World). It is a proven approach (Hunt et al. 2013, Roche et al. 2016) encompassing three main elements; a 15-point environmental code of conduct for dive centers complemented by a robust assessment system to monitor and promote compliance; support towards developing or strengthening implementation of relevant regulatory frameworks; and strategic outreach to and capacity building among dive centers and their customers as well as government partners. Almost 600 dive and snorkel centers around the world have committed to protecting coral reefs by working towards following the Green Fins environmental Code of Conduct. There are 32 national and local government agency or NGO implementing partners engaged.
Green Fins Assessors in El Nido Philippines. Photo © The Reef-World Foundation
Annual assessments are conducted by qualified Green Fins assessors who measure members’ performance against the list of 15 code of conduct activities and associated assessment criteria. Assessment activities have been on hold during pandemic lockdowns and border closures but are resuming now as tourism reopens. Every business activity is given a score in a 330-point impact scoring system; activities posing a greater threat to marine biodiversity (e.g., dropping an anchor) are given a higher impact score than those not posing a threat (e.g., lack of environmental awareness material). Therefore the lower the score, the lower the impacts the businesses have on coral reefs. Continued participation and Green Fins certification is dependent on centers lowering impact scores from year to year. Solutions or alternatives to high-risk activities are agreed upon in collaboration with each business manager. Solutions can range anywhere from effectively separating and recycling the operation’s waste to monitoring local coral bleaching levels. Participation in relevant environmental activities such as citizen science programs or reef cleanup activities is promoted. Assessor training and qualifications are provided by Reef-World to reduce issues associated with inter-assessor variability.
Green Fins booth at the Beijing International Diving Expo. Photo © The Reef-World Foundation
Green Fins works by engaging relevant national authorities and building their capacity to use Green Fins as part of wider marine resource management programs. Green Fins is currently active within the national government frameworks of Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Palau, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Malaysia, the Department of Marine Parks Malaysia (DMPM) adopted Green Fins as a national program in 2009. Recognizing that Green Fins contributes to national priorities and commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity it has been included in the Department’s Key Performance Index (KPI) as well as being a key component of the department’s action plan for delivery of Aichi Target 10. In the Philippines, the Green Fins Code of Conduct has been adopted as a guideline for environmentally sustainable diving under the Departmental Administrative Order (DAO) Sustainable Coral Reef Ecosystem Management Plan (SCREMP), leading to some national resource allocation for work with the diving industry.
How successful has it been?
Green Fins is a proven approach to reduce local direct threats to coral reefs associated with diving and snorkel activities, thus building their resilience. Since 2004, Green Fins has expanded throughout popular diving destinations in Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Palau, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Nearly 600 dive and snorkel centers have signed up to be Green Fins members by committing to follow the 15 environmental points of the Code of Conduct since the program was launched. In countries where Green Fins has been integrated into National Government action plans, memberships are continually increasing, and activities are set to expand to new locations throughout each country. Across all 75 diving hotspots where Green Fins has been implemented, average assessment scores have continually improved, proving the success of Green Fins as a replicable management strategy to reduce damage to coral reef ecosystems.
Green Fins Ambassadors in Panglao, Philippines. Photo © The Reef-World Foundation
Eighty-two qualified individuals from the National Governments of the fourteen active countries have been trained as Green Fins Assessors to enable further expansion and continued implementation of Green Fins within their respective countries. As Green Fins is introduced to new countries and new locations, new assessors will be trained.
Six assessors have gone on to be trained as Green Fins assessor trainers, and they are now able to continue assessor training independently in their own countries. This provides essential operational sustainability for the Green Fins network.
Hundreds of representatives associated with the diving and snorkeling industry (including dive guides, instructors, boat crew, boat captains, resort managers, resort staff, marine resource managers, Government officials and the general public) have received environmental training focused on reducing the threats of the industry on its local natural resources. At least twenty-seven local dive guides or instructors from the Philippines have received further training on the conservation and sustainable management of their local coral reefs and have become Green Fins Ambassadors.
Lessons learned and recommendations
Lessons learned and key recommendations include:
- Green Fins has successfully been replicated across tourist destinations in fourteen countries around the world. This has been driven by demand from the industry as well as keenness from the government to manage tourism activities in all major tourist sites. Replication is possible because Reef-World has made capacity building for all levels of implementation readily available through outreach materials, Operational Handbooks, and training programs.
- Due to high industry demand, oversubscription of dive centers can quickly become difficult for Green Fins management teams to oversee. It is therefore recommended that implementation focuses on single destinations. Once activities are fully established, replication to a new site can be considered, and so forth.
- Before the pandemic, the Asian tourism market was booming. It’s expected that this will return as soon as tourism reopens. Green Fins has successfully engaged all of these major global tourism markets with outreach and communications adapted to each audience (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).
- Green Fins builds meaningful partnerships between the private and public sectors. This has been critical for the successful replication of the program across fourteen countries.
- Uptake by government has been key in building Green Fins momentum. Government participation is the result of Reef-World and UNEP clearly communicating how Green Fins delivers on their national and international environmental commitments, as well as provides opportunity to strengthen relevant laws and regulations.
- Green Fins drives sustainable economic growth and better-informed consumer choices.
- Dive Centers which adopt Green Fins have noticed a more loyal repeat customer base that make longer stays and are willing to pay more for services. UNEP and Reef-World are committed to continuing the development, implementation, and expansion of Green Fins into new sites and countries and are looking for partners to collaborate with.
- As tourism reopens, Reef-World will be particularly attentive to supporting emerging destinations to establish best environmental practice within their marine tourism industries, as we expect to see the steepest growth in tourism numbers in these locations (e.g., Jordan, Tobago, Fiji, Zanzibar, South Africa, Mozambique, Vanuatu, Maldives, Panama, Oman, and Saudi Arabia). Reef-World and UNEP welcome expressions of interest in Green Fins from authorities and groups working in these locations.
- In response to demand, Reef-World is developing the Green Fins Hub to be launched by the end of 2022. This first-of-its-kind online platform will support marine tourism operations all around to work to manage their sustainability journey and access the Green Fins tool in support of this. Operators will register on the system, provide information on their sustainability practices and policies, then receive recommendations to help them to build and track progress against an action plan. They will have access to a solutions library housing all the Green Fins tools and tips to help them overcome environmental challenges as well as a community forum, where users can discuss environmental issues with like-minded operators, NGOs, Governments, and industry partners from all over the world.
Funding summary
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
The Rufford Foundation
National Aquarium Limited
Mangroves for the Future
Inter-American Development Bank
TUI Care Foundation
Matthew Good Foundation
National government budgets of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives and Vietnam
Private sector (diving industry) in-kind support in all active countries
Lead organizations
United Nations Environment Program
The Reef-World Foundation
Partners
Reef Check Malaysia
Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Marine Park & Resource Management Division
Sabah Parks
Ministry of Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Maldives
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines
El Nido Foundation
Save Philippine Seas
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Thailand
Vietnam Institute of Oceanography
Corporate Partners
Fourth Element
Explorer Ventures Fleet
PADI and PADI Travel
Caudalie
SnorkelVenture
PSS
Its Dive O’Clock Somewhere!
PUR
ZuBlu
Philanthropic Partners
The Rufford Foundation
National Marine Aquarium
NFWF
TUI Care Foundation
ExoFoundation
Matthew Good Foundation
Corales de Paz
IDB LAB
Outreach Partners
Underwater 360.Asia—Diver’s Digest
Scuba Diver Life
SevenSeas Media
DeepBlu
Blue Ocean Network
Sunphol Photography
Dive.in
Big Scuba Podcast
Academic Partners
Prifysgol Bangor University
Reef Check Dominican Republic
Mision Tiburon
Corales de Paz
Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS), Egypt
Resources
Green Fins awareness raising materials – wide range of tools, materials and other information that cover all aspects of Green Fins implementation is available through the Green Fins website and includes:
- The Green Fins Dive Guide e-Course is a free online course to help dive professionals reduce the negative environmental impacts of scuba diving through their own actions, and those of their divers. Students may pay $25 to receive a personalized electronic certificate upon completion of the course.
- The Green Fins Diver e-Course ($25) is designed to help recreational divers protect coral reefs by learning how to conduct more environmentally friendly dives. This online course teaches scuba divers how to prevent diving-related damage to coral reefs by following the highest environmental standards, as set out by the Green Fins initiative.
- Green Fins materials, which promote and explain marine tourism best practices and are free for download in many languages.
- Green Fins How To Videos – nine short videos providing practical solutions to some of the most common day to day challenges within dive operations.
- Green Fins for a Blue Planet, an animated video suitable for outreach to divers as well as dive operators (part of the Two Minutes on Oceans with Jim Toomey series).
