Responsible travel

According to the World Tourism Organisation, the number of travellers passed one billion in 2014 and will continue to rise. This makes it all the more important for stakeholders to promote sustainable tourism development that safeguards the cultural and natural resources of the regions involved, and for each individual to adopt responsible behaviours that generate a positive impact for local populations and leave a minimal carbon footprint. You don't have to go far to get a change of scenery! Opt for green tourism wherever possible, and try to take the train rather than pollution-heavy means of travel such as cars, planes or ferries. You can walk, pedal, or even hoist a sail – the world’s your oyster!

When it comes to animals, a number of rules apply: don't touch them, don't feed them and don't eat them, at least not if they are an endangered species or pose a risk to your health. Try to be as unintrusive as possible so as not to disturb them. Certain seemingly harmless actions are not without consequence. Just stroking an animal can change the smell that enables a female to recognise her young, causing her to reject it. Teasing a fish into a hiding place generates such stress that it may leave its offspring at the mercy of predators. A few bits of bread offered to a woodchuck can cause digestive problems that prevent it from building up its reserves for the winter. Feeding wild species changes their natural behaviour, and can favour more invasive species such as rats or gulls, and make them aggressive.  To observe animals without making them feel threatened, nothing beats a pair of binoculars or a camera. Always keep at a safe distance, be inconspicuous and don’t stalk them when they are hiding!

Even the most remote places now bear the traces of human presence. So, what can you do to ensure you leave no trace behind?  Take as little packaging and as few disposable products with you as possible, and once at your destination don’t leave them behind or bury them. Whether in sand or snow they’ll end up coming back to the surface, washed up by a wave or freed from the ice by the sun. Bear in mind that at high altitude or on a glacier, nothing degrades! Cigarette butts and other waste thrown into the sea can be ingested by animals. A plastic bag can be fatal to a turtle if it mistakes it for a jellyfish! No litter left on the side of a road will magically disappear. If not transported to a landfill, incinerator or recycling system, they may end up in the open air, on the outskirts of a village, or in front of its houses. It takes three months for a tissue to decompose, one to two years for a cigarette butt, five years for chewing gum, eighty to one hundred years for an aluminium can and one thousand years for plastic bottles! Also, be mindful of modern sanitary pads. With their synthetic fibres and retention gels, they are not at all suitable for composting. Human excrement is not without impact either – it can contaminate waterways, spreading parasites or diseases such as hepatitis or typhoid.