Quest for NetZero emissions in South African national parks: A tourism perspective

Abstract

Globally, national parks contribute to tourism and conservation. Several iconic national parks in Africa attract millions of tourists. These include Table Mountain, Kruger, the Serengeti, Chobe, Hwange, and Gorongosa National Park. Tourism contributes substantially to global warming and climate change through carbon emissions from tourism activities. Regardless of this understanding, minimal effort has been put into understanding and documenting the national park's carbon risk. The current debate on sustainability transitions calls for a relook of various economic sector strategies to reduce their carbon footprint. This aligns with SDG 13 on climate change action and the sector's calls for carbon neutrality. To that effect, this study examines how South African National Parks (SANParks) seeks to transition to net zero in its park operations to ensure responsiveness to the climate change agenda. This study included 150 interviews with national park and hospitality professionals in 19 national parks to address the research objective. In addition, the study draws upon extensive field observation, document analysis, and 871 tourist questionnaire surveys. Data analysis from the survey was conducted using QuestionPro Analytics, while interview data were analysed through systematic content and thematic analysis. The study found that South Africa's national parks have primarily carbon-intensive tourism facilities from an energy perspective. South African national parks, however, have taken steps to respond to the four essential pillars of NetZero emissions by 2050. These pillars are outlined in the Glasgow Declaration on climate change and the revised Nationally Determined Contributions. Within SANParks estates, these pillars include planning, measuring, reporting, and advocating for accelerated climate change action. NetZero initiatives should be funded in a variety of ways, including by tourists, the private sector, and other stakeholders.