No fewer than 1.6 billion people — nearly a quarter of the world’s population — depend on forests for their livelihoods. Forests are also critical to maintaining biodiversity, mitigating climate change and enabling key ecosystem functions that regulate the biosphere. And yet about 45 per cent of the world’s forests have already been cleared. Here are some hard numbers to ponder that tell us how and why we should stop.

This year at the World Travel Market, responsible tourism made its way from a niche-market corner into the mainstream. The BBC World sponsored the World Responsible Tourism Programme (WRTP), which included a series of seminars on some of the major topics within tourism and sustainability. The Programme culminated with World Responsible Tourism Day on Wednesday November 10, when the much-anticipated 2010 Responsible Tourism Awards were handed out.

The scope of certification has now been broadened to include social and cultural issues – all part of a movement focusing on sustainability. Whilst I applaud the intent, efforts and enthusiasm of all the experts involved, I can’t help but feel things haven’t gone so well. It seems to me that key beneficiaries of the message – you! the travellers! – have been left out. As a result, many suppliers are not so sure that the cost of certification will be rewarded by increased patronage.

The Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria has announced the release of landmark universal sustainable tourism criteria, a new global framework intended as a guide to the practice of sustainable tourism. The criteria focus on best practices in four fundamental areas: maximizing social and economic benefits to local communities reducing negative impacts on cultural heritage…