GEOSS Support for Decision-Making in the Coastal Zone: Managing and Mitigating the Impacts of Human Activities and Natural Hazards in the Coastal Zone

A workshop series organized by the GEO Coastal Zone Community of Practice

Earth Observation Support for Sustainable Tourism in Small Island States
March 9-11, 2011, Puerto Rico

The Third Regional Workshop in the Workshop Series of the GEO Coastal Zone Community of Practice (CZCP) focused on the Caribbean and was organized in partnership with the Caribbean Regional Association (CaRA) for the Caribbean Integrated Coastal Ocean Observing System (CarICOOS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), the United Nation Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

The Third Regional Workshop of the series focused on the specific needs, challenges and capabilities related to sustainable tourism in the small island states of the Caribbean. The workshop brought together stakeholders in island tourism with Earth observation and service providers in order to investigate how Earth observation-based services could support decision making related to all facets of tourism and enable operational and planning practices for sustainable tourism.

Specific objectives of the regional workshop included:

• Using Earth observations to improve sustainability of tourism:
  • Managing coastal tourism assets
  • Planning for and adapting to coastal change
• Sustaining tourism under a changing climate:
  • assessing and preparing for climate change and its impact on coastal zones
• Tourism and ecosystems:
  • Using observations to enhance relationships with the environment
  • Using observations to inform conflict resolution
• Tourism and economy
  • Using Earth observations to increase and support the economic value of tourism in a sustainable manner
• Increasing resilience:
  • Observations supporting coastal policy development
  • Using observations to mitigate environmental impacts
  • Contending with coastal hazards