Well-managed tourists in Magdalena Fjord, Spitzbergen
Magdalena Fjord in North-west Spitsbergen, with its graves of Dutch whalers, is one of the most visited sites by tourist coming to Svalbard. And yet it is well managed. WWF once facilitated a process of developing Arctic guidelines for tourists and tour companies. Representatives from local communities, governments, different sectors of the tourism industry, conservation organisations and scientific institutions used their experience to create ten principles and guidelines for Arctic tourism: Expedition ship tour operators, operating in the North Atlantic Arctic with small and middle sized vessels meanwhile organized themselves in the Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) developing their own environmental guidelines: Svalbard, which Norway aims to keep as "one of the best managed wilderness areas in the world" is a leading example of "Linking Tourism & Conservation" . With Svalbard's large protected area system and the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund and guidelines for tourism guides at every landing spot the archipelago provides a win-win for tourism and nature conservation.
Year: 2015
From album: Sea Ice, Icebergs, Glaciers, Snow and Permafrost in the Arctic Region
Photographer: Peter Prokosch