KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Leading figures in the climate change debate have been invited to present their views at the conference, among them include:

 Geoffrey Lipman is Assistant Secretary-General of UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and its Spokesperson. He is Chair of Green Globe 21 and was the first President of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) between 1990-1999 and Executive Director of IATA, where he worked from 1966 to 1985.

Mr Lipman has been Tourism Envoy for the UNDP Administrator, Tourism Advisor to the Commonwealth Business Council and World Economic Forum and a Board Member of Armstrong Hospitality Group.

In recent years he has acted as Tourism Advisor to Microsoft and helped craft the UNWTO PPP with that Organization; initiated the WTO’s ST-EP programme; moderated the Davos Conference on Climate Change and Tourism and the subsequent Ministerial Summit;and served as 2007 Chair of the UN Communications Group

Polls show that more than half the British population thinks that the experts are still divided on climate change. Meanwhile, in America, only 18% think that global warming is an urgent danger requiring serious action. So are the sceptics winning? Who are they? Might they be right? And is it fair to call them 'climate change deniers', with the sinister overtones of that phrase?

Mark Lynas argues for a more understanding approach to those on the 'other side. Mark is a freelance writer working full-time on climate change.

In addition, Professor C. Michael Hall, will be giving a virtual presentation on 'Gaps in Knowledge on Tourism and Climate Change' , from his home in New Zealand.

Professor C. Michael Hall , Professor of Marketing
University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Born in the United Kingdom but Australian by passport, Michael is Professor in Marketing, joining the department at the end of 2006. Prior to this Michael has had positions including Professor in Tourism at the University of Otago, Professor of Tourism and Service Management at Victoria University of Wellington, and Honorary Professor in the Department of Marketing, Stirling University, Scotland. Michael has longstanding teaching, publication and research interests in tourism, regional development and social/green marketing with particular emphasis on issues of place branding and marketing as well as conservation and environmental change, event management and marketing, and the use of tourism as an economic development and conservation mechanism.

Click on the link below to download a pdf copy of Michael's presentation:

• [Michael Hall Presentation ]
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