Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
island's authorities who argue that exoge-
nous forces are paramount in determining
continuing division and its manifold conse-
quences (e.g. see Jayasuriya, 2001; WBI,
2003; Alipour and Kilic, 2004).
The 'environment' has remained a neg-
lected area both in terms of institutional capa-
city and policy implementation, as emphasized
in the Republic of Cyprus
Strategic Plan for
Tourism 2000-2010
(CTO, 2005). This is
in stark contrast to the perceived importance
of the environment within EU policy-making
and the fact that environmentally related poli-
cies have become one of the fastest growing
areas of policy implementation elsewhere
(Ruzza, 2000). The EU 1992 framework docu-
ment
Towards Sustainability
, expressly tar-
geted the environmental impact of tourism.
The influential Fifth EC Environmental Action
Programme, approved by the Council in
1993, made explicit the intention to incorpo-
rate environmental awareness into a wide
number of sectors, including tourism (Ruzza,
2000, p. 292).
The EU has transformed environmental
policymaking for the states of Europe. There
are now close to 300 environmental regulations
and directives governing environmental policy
throughout the member states. In many
environmental policy areas the EU now plays
an international leadership role.
(Schreurs, 2004, p. 27)
This is important, for example, because
coastal over-development and urban visual
pollution (e.g. Anon, 1999, 2001) have hith-
erto not been constrained, because of weak
environmental bureaucracies in both the South
and North. However, the twin forces of EU
environmental requirements and apparent
market pressures for tourism 'sustainability'
now require a better understanding and holis-
tic approach to ecological issues by tourism
managers.
The issue of 'sustainability' as a concep-
tual paradigm has become a significant policy
issue within the international development
community. It has evolved beyond being just a
fashionable buzzword, but has become a pol-
icy dimension emphasizing 'values associated
with cultural and community diversity, concern
for social issues of justice and fairness, and a
strong orientation toward stability. The evolution
of the term “sustainable development” refers
to all development paths that are environmen-
tally beneficial and lasting' (Ahn
et al
., 2002,
p. 2). With the EU accession of (South)
Cyprus in 2004, the opening of the borders
between two Greek and Turkish enclaves on
the island, and the acceptance of Turkey to
start negotiations in October 2005 towards
full membership, a euphoric wave of invest-
ment and development, especially in tourism,
swept the North, raising numerous questions
concerning
the
credibility
of
'sustainability'
policies.
In the South's strategic plan for tourism
2000-2010, a great deal of environmental
concern is elaborated, its practical expression
having been contingent upon alignment with
EU environmental practices and norms (CTO,
2005). In the North, while institutional short-
comings and their consequences are similar in
degree, more than three decades of sanctions
and embargoes have had an environmental
dividend in terms of the limited nature of new
capital development, not least in mass tour-
ism. Indeed, an intriguing question faces the
North, caught between the struggle for recog-
nition on one hand and the possibility of uni-
fication on the other: assuming the island's
political situation improves, will EU norms
and practices be adopted and implemented
before the rush of (re-)development takes
place in response to a reopening to mass
markets?
With the inauguration of accession negotia-
tions with Turkey, and enhanced hopes for
North Cyprus to become a
de facto
functioning
part of the EU, it is time to institutionalize
the issue of tourism sustainability beyond
ad
hoc
mechanisms of integrating environmental
elements into tourism plans. At present,
there appears not to be an appropriate and
well- thought-out model available, especially in
the areas of strategic environmental assessment
(SEA), environmental impact assessment (EIA),
and sustainability impact assessment (SIA)
(Basiago, 1999; Boulanger and Bréchet, 2005).
This is at a time when the EU has adopted such
models as a fundamental policy element of its
development agenda, and across Europe a
great deal of effort is being put into
operationalizing these models in the tourism
sector as well as in regional planning strategies
