Spanish Climate Change Policy for Fishery and Tourism Industry

Question: Discuss about theSpanish Climate Change Policy for Fishery and Tourism Industry. Answer: Introduction Changes in climatic conditions is a major determinant of tourists activities in different parts of the world. Tourists make decisions depending on the whether condition of a place. Climate change refers to the changes experienced in the weather patterns that further affects water bodies and land surface activities. It is a condition that can be long term or short term depending with the frequency of occurrence. Weather, on the other hand is the atmospheric state of a place. The weather can be described further by aspects such as sunshine, rain, heat or wind of a place. Tourists find it challenging at times since they expect specific climatic conditions but instead find the opposite weather conditions at the destinations. For instance, if the sea temperature increases, there will be a change in rainfall pattern as well. This will make some areas become drier while other will become more wet. This is an evidence that tourist activities will be affected either negatively or positively. It is, therefore, an important exercise for tourists to understand the weather pattern of a place before making decisions to travel. It is also evident that some fisheries stay deep below the water where temperature is very low while other are adapted to stay near the water surface where the water temperature is slightly warm. The change in the temperature of sea water will, therefore, affect the movement of mammals that live in water. Responses to climate change Changing weather patterns of a place affects tourists comfortability especially those who want to explore winter sport, beaches and nature segments. This also affects tourists travel decisions to a place of choice (Baker, et al, 2012). The Spanish government, which is the main beneficiary of the funds given by tourists argues that environmental experts within Spain and the weather men should give accurate information so that when tourists travel to Spain, they do not have to be disappointed by the weather conditions therein. On the other hand, meteorologists argue that weather pattern changes without notice. According to the change in climatic conditions within Spain also affects agricultural activities as well (Costello, et al, 2009). The overall effect is that tourists may avoid going to certain places within Spain or totally avoid Spanish lands due to the unpredictable weather patterns. When this happens, it only means a loss on the governments side since the revenue that is norma lly collected from such activities will not be collected anymore (Eriksen, et al, 2011). Business people whose personal income is directly or indirectly linked to the availability of tourists in Spain have put the government on toes about the effects. There is loss of job since the tourists are not flocking the Spains coastal regions. Most business people have based their businesses to the availability of tourists at coastal regions. This means that absence of tourists will render their businesses un-operational. Climatic change of a certain magnitude may make the existing tourists become uncomfortable hence opt to leave the country. Economically, this reduces the total revenue to the government more so from tourism sector. It is also evident that the total taxes collected from citizens will reduce drastically since many citizens are not employed anymore, they do not have any source of income and, therefore, they are not transacting in any way (Garnaut, 2011). Economically it means that there is no cash flow from such a sector, thus reducing the overall income Business people do like certain whether patterns since they bring positivity in tourism sector in Spain. For instance, the change in the speed of wind up to above 25 kilometers per hour, triggers boat racing activities (Gilley, 2012). This, therefore, attracts more people including the tourists who come in to take part in the exercise and give out money to the concerned people as exchange. However, some economic activities will not take place as needed since that speed of wind is dangerous and may cause destructions to buildings, structures and so on (Gore Robinson, 2009). Spread of diseases some diseases thrive and are only seen in warmer climatic conditions than in cold areas. Once people acquire diseases in different countries due to the climatic condition found there, they spread the disease to other destinations in their own mother lands. This is because the tourists travel frequently in different countries thus spreading the illness. This is one way in which countries that earlier on did not have cases of strange diseases end up with unknown or strange ailments. (Gssling, et al, 2012) For instance, mosquitoes that carry malaria are known to live in warm areas. However, malaria at times is reported to have attacked people who live in cold countries. This is normally due to the movement of people in and out of the countries. Once it is known by many tourists that a certain country is prone to illnesses, however how rich is such a county is in terms of tourists attraction sites and destination, they will simply not come (Hellmann, et al, 2008). Thi s means bad to the economy of a country. Tourists like and prefers destinations that are safe and free from any life threatening ailments. Malaria for example, is rampant in Spain due to the high temperature found there. Non-governmental organizations have taken part in the debate about climate change and its effects to the economy. Suggestions have since been forwarded for a proper action to be taken by the government (Jeswani, Wehrmeyer Mulugetta, 2008). In collaboration with other state departments, non-governmental organizations require the government to adopt climate adaptation program. An example of this program is aquaculture development. However, economic experts warn that the exercise may not work as planned and bring the impact that was intended. They say that climate adaptation will bring down the overall prices of food found from water (Jones Levy, 2007). This, according to the economists, may further bring down the revenue that comes with sea foods. However, these organisations point out that the government through economists in the land, need to expand their research on the same so that they be specific about the impacts, whether negative or positive, and to what extent the adaptation program be (Moss, et al, 2010). Climate change in Spain have been characterised by increase in the level of salt in sea water. This occurs due to the increased temperature of sea water as well. Some types of fish, especially those consumed by human being, are adapted to live in fresh water areas. Increased salinity in the aquatic habitat, therefore, means that some types of fish cannot, therefore, survive in such salty conditions. This leads to the death or migration of most of the fisheries that are needed for economic development (North, 2010). There are types of fisheries that live in salty water and can adapt to increased water temperature as well. An example is shark, which is another type of fish. Tourists are attracted to watch shark while moving along waters. They (shark) jump up at very high heights and can be seen by people standing at a distance place. Tourists, therefore, pay good money to be allowed to attend such activities and watch amazing move by the sharks (Qi, et al, 2008). This means that there are mixed reactions from people who need consumable fish to increase in number versus the people who value tourism activities. This is mainly because the two types of fisheries cannot survive under the same condition, one must eliminate itself and, therefore, affecting one side of the economy in the country. High concentration of dark clouds in the skies triggers heavy rainfall on the land. According to climate observers, too much on the rain may lead to floods as experienced before in Spain. When excess floods are experienced, a lot of destruction to both private and public property is evident. Among others, properties that get destroyed include but not limited to; semi-permanent house and permanent houses built on areas that are prone to land slide, destruction of tree, mass landslides which causes death to both humans and animals (Stern, 2010). Such a destruction causes economic downfall and stagnation to the country. This is because the Spanish government spend much time rebuilding the destroyed structure. A lot of money is also invested in such activities which, therefore, means that small savings that was available is being used to redo what had been done already. Economically, such a country ends up borrowing money form world banks or other financial institutions, depending on the level of destruction (Tol, 2009). This simply means that the country in question will have slow or stunted development rate. Non-governmental organizations, therefore, argue that the government need to train its citizens on the good places to put up house and business premises. According to them, they need the government to provide good lands that are fit for human habitat. However, the government may seem reluctant about the whole idea, citing lack of money and high cost of implementing the same to nearly quarter of its citizens (Weaver, 2011). Conclusion Climate change is a key player in economic development of a country. Spanish government have tried almost all means to maintain the economic stability of the country over time. However, due to the changing climatic conditions, the situation has not been easy to maintain though. Changes in climatic patterns may not be easy to predict as it used to be sometime back. This is attributed to the global warming that has since affected a better part of the world to date. According to reports by economists, change in climatic patterns and conditions do affect different sectors of the economy, with tourism and fisheries being the most areas of concern. Tourism plays a big role in economic development in Spain. Tourists pay large sums of money to enjoy attraction site within different towns in Spain, they pay individual people good sums of money to perform some traditional activities such as dances and singing and many more. This means that the presence of tourists in Spain have changed the liv ing standards of many communities over there and improved the livelihoods by a big margin. Due to this improvement, many non-governmental organizations have piled pressure on the government to implement ways to improve tourism sector in the country so that the lives of the local people and the economy of the country can continue improving daily. They also call on the government and all the concerned bodies (especially environmental sector) to come up with ways to reduce the carbon emissions into the air, which reports indicates that also contributes to the further deterioration of the economy. This is due to the carbon monoxide produced by the large number of vehicles that move around to transport tourists from one place to another. It should also be considered that these smoke contribute in the increase in water temperature and addition of salty compounds in to the water. This process is known to drive away the types of fish and other water bodies that are important for human activ ities and for the food purposes. Controlling the spread of dirty smokes across water bodies also mean that there will be reduced pile up of smoke that causes heavy downpour. There will be reduced cases of effects of flood cases and so the countrys economy will have stabilized over time. References Baker, I., Peterson, A., Brown, G., McAlpine, C. 2012. "Local government response to the impacts of climate change: An evaluation of local climate adaptation plans."Landscape and urban planning,vol.107,no.2,pp 127-136. Costello, A., Abbas, M., Allen, A., Ball, S., Bell, S., Bellamy, R., ... 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