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After signing up to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism at COP26 we ran into a snag. We could not find anyone to build the required Climate Action Plan. Collaboration resolved that dilemma and now we’re proudly launching our climate plan during COP27.
Our climate action dilemma was finding the right collaborator
Ever wondered how you will achieve a goal you’ve signed up for? Especially one that you’ve told the world about? We have — and this is how collaboration fixed it.
On 4th November 2021, during COP26 in Glasgow, Echidna Walkabout became a launch partner of the United Nations Glasgow Declaration. Which meant that within 12 months we were obliged to provide a Climate Action Plan (CAP) covering off on how we intended to meet the 5 principles of the Declaration.
Six months later we found ourselves in a dilemma that appeared to have no solution.
Good advice was hard to come by. Intrepid Travel’s Global Environmental Impact Manager, Susanne Etti, came to the rescue with invaluable support.
Susanne helped us understand that creating a meaningful CAP requires skill and knowledge. Most businesses turn to professionals that know how to deal with the complexities of reducing CO2 emissions.
But finding an organisation that could actually draw up the Plan was almost impossible; they were either too expensive or too busy or simply not interested in helping a small business.
Then we met Dayana Brooke : dilemma resolved!
Fortunately, in May we met Dayana Brooke, a sustainability consultant, who listened to our concerns then provided achievable solutions.
As she said: “Not knowing what to do is a part of the problem for many businesses”.
Miraculously we’d found a person with the skills to help us resolve our dilemma. Over the next 5 months we collaborated with Dayana to create our first Climate Action Plan. It’s an achievable starting point that we’ll build on with Dayana in 2023 and beyond.
Dayana keeps things simple — which is a blessing in the complex world of climate action. She collaborates using swimming metaphors: first dip in, then immerse yourself and finally, take a deep dive. We dipped in years ago but with the release of our CAP we’ve immersed ourselves. Now we’re ready for the deep dive.
“It was an absolute joy to collaborate with Echidna Walkabout and prepare their Climate Action Plan. I look forward to continuing to work together and advocating for conservation tourism to protect nature.”
Dayana Brooke | Sustainability
So at COP27 will collaboration work to resolve the wider dilemma of global climate action?
There’s only one answer to that question : it must.
In an article published in the The Guardian on 2nd November, Christiana Figueres (past head of the UN Climate Change Convention and an architect of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement) says: “If we keep abusing nature it will collapse, taking us with it. We need a new mindset.”
Always creative, Figueres provides a resolution to the dilemma participants face at COP27:
“Radical collaboration pushes past the status quo and shakes up power dynamics. In the face of approaching climate tipping points and the collapse of the living world as we know it, we cannot afford to continue without it.“
Throughout history, when humans work together, when we genuinely collaborate, we can resolve huge, almost intractable problems.
We humans dipped our toes in the water half a century ago when the first climate scientists predicted the dire consequences of what would happen if we did nothing. Since the first COP in 1995 we’ve immersed ourselves in the problem but we now know exactly how to solve it.
At COP27 the deep diving must begin in earnest. Radical collaboration is the way.
Attributable quotes: text can be pulled from this story and attributed to Roger Smith, Director Operations, Echidna Walkabout. The quote from Dayana Brooke can also be used.
Contact: Roger Smith +61 427 808 745 e: roger@echidnawalkabout.com.au
More examples of climate action collaboration by Echidna Walkabout:
- Founding member of Australian Wildlife Journeys
- Marketing climate action with Australian Geographic Travel
- Member of the global Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency group
- Signatory to the We Mean Business Coalition message to G20 Leaders
- Founding participant in Tourism Australia’s Sustainability Storytellers and Thought Leadership Workshops
- How conservation travel empowers people
