1. Why Biodiversity Matters to a Tourism Destination
Climate Resilience and Community Value
Climate change intensifies the relationship between biodiversity, public infrastructure, local communities and tourism. For Sardinia, the relevant risks include rising temperatures, drought, water stress, wildfire conditions, extreme rainfall, flooding, coastal erosion, sea-level rise and changes in marine ecosystems.
These risks do not affect tourism in isolation. They affect the systems shared by residents, workers, businesses, agriculture, public services and visitors.
Sardinia’s Regional Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change identifies coastal and transitional environments, hydrogeological systems, infrastructure, forests, inland waters, agriculture, livestock systems and urban areas as priority areas for adaptation. This is directly relevant to destination management because tourism demand often peaks during periods in which water, energy, mobility, health, waste and coastal systems are already under seasonal stress.[portal.sardegnasira]
| Climate-related risk | Potential implication for the destination |
|---|---|
| Drought and water stress | Competition for water between households, tourism businesses, agriculture and public services |
| Heat | Reduced visitor comfort, health risks, pressure on cooling demand and more difficult outdoor working conditions |
| Wildfire conditions | Risks to life, landscapes, transport, accommodation, local livelihoods and destination confidence |
| Extreme rainfall and flooding | Disruption to roads, settlements, utilities, visitor safety and tourism operations |
| Coastal erosion and sea-level rise | Exposure of beaches, dunes, promenades, ports, roads and coastal accommodation |
| Marine warming | Changes to marine ecosystems, water quality, fisheries and recreational conditions |
| Ecosystem degradation | Reduced capacity of natural systems to buffer climate impacts and support visitor experience |
Climate resilience should not be defined only as the ability to restore visitor numbers after an extreme event. A resilient destination is one that can protect people, ecosystems, public services, livelihoods and cultural assets before, during and after disruption.
This requires tourism planning to be connected with water management, coastal planning, civil protection, public health, transport, land-use regulation, ecosystem restoration and infrastructure investment.
The community dimension is equally important. Tourism can generate employment, new businesses, cultural visibility, demand for local products and support for public services. It can also create congestion, pressure on housing, insecure seasonal employment, unequal distribution of revenue and additional pressure on shared resources.
Residents should not be portrayed either as passive beneficiaries or as a homogeneous group opposed to tourism. They include people with different relationships to the visitor economy: tourism employees, entrepreneurs, farmers, fishers, students, families, retirees, seasonal workers, homeowners, renters and people living in coastal and inland areas.
The relevant issue is whether tourism contributes to community resilience.
This requires asking:
- Does tourism create stable, fairly paid and locally accessible employment?
- Does visitor expenditure support local businesses, food producers, craft and cultural activity?
- Are residents able to access housing, transport, public space and essential services during peak periods?
- Do communities have meaningful influence over tourism and land-use decisions?
- Are the costs of environmental management and infrastructure provision fairly shared?
- Does tourism support population retention and viable services in smaller communities?
Sardinia’s demographic decline makes these questions particularly significant. The island’s resident population fell to 1,562,381 in 2024. Tourism can help sustain local economies, but only if it is connected to locally retained value, public-service capacity, skills, enterprise development and the long-term liveability of communities.[istat]
Climate resilience and community value are therefore not separate objectives. A tourism model that increases water stress, housing pressure, congestion and ecological vulnerability may weaken communities’ capacity to adapt. A model that supports restoration, resource efficiency, local enterprise, accessible mobility and participatory governance can help strengthen the territorial systems on which tourism itself depends.