Participatory planning to deal with climate change

Saturday, August 6, 2022

A research from the University of Maine exhibits that assembling of academics and tourism developers on Mount Desert Island (MDI) is a good way to be aware of the impacts of climate change and decide what can be done to control them, considering a community’s strong points, restrictions and assets.

As a result of the work of a trans-disciplinary group of UMaine graduate researchers and community shareholders, MDI might have additional information for keeping the destination workable.

Nature-based tourism spots, which are plentiful around Maine, face distinctive challenges springing from the effects of climate change. Climate and weather regulate the timing, extent and value of tourism spells, along with the risks involved with leisure activities.

Participatory planning — assembling of an assortment of stakeholders to examine intricate issues by making use of local knowledge — is a method that communities can use to expect the effects of climate change and come up with appropriate measures. For nature-based tourism spots, this could mean branching out leisure prospects, for example, or improving sustainable transportation procedures based on tourist movements.

The participating development method to deal with the effects of climate change has proved to be successful in numerous global case studies. For instance, a 2014 participatory planning study involved municipal representatives, tourism brains, business proprietors and investigators and it was able to effectively recognize climate change influences and adaptation procedures for two tourism-centric regions of Northern Finland.

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