Assessment of the Adoption of Technologies to Promote Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 on Climate Action by Wildlife-Based Tourist Destinations in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe

Tourism is a relatively minor carbon emissions sector, but projections show that its emissions will rise significantly if the business-as-usual trajectory is not managed. Growth in the tourism industry presents challenges and opportunities that can be harnessed to reduce the carbon footprint of the sector through the adoption of technologies for the mitigation of climate change. Motivated by the mantra of ‘leaving no one (industry) behind’, ‘thinking globally and acting locally’, this chapter, therefore, examines the adoption of technologies by three wildlife-based tourist destinations (WBTDs) in Masvingo Province as part of the localisation of SDG 13 and making tourism a low-carbon industry. The methods used in this chapter involve extracting and analysing data from the websites of institutions such as the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) and WBTDs. Secondary data on sustainability programmes, communication, and surveillance technologies that implicitly and explicitly affect SDG 13 were collected. To augment secondary data, structured interviews were conducted with WBTDs and ZimParks officials to collect information on technologies used in park operations and tourism activities, but with a low-carbon footprint. Research findings show that while the three protected areas (PAs) have adopted different technologies, many do not explicitly address SDG 13. Most technologies are purely for responding to immediate and local or national problems such as load shedding, poaching, and water shortages, which then implicitly address the climate change crisis. ZimParks seems to regress from one of its four ‘park operations’ (of fighting climate change), as many of its resources are directed towards wildlife poaching despite climate change being an overt and covert enabler of the poaching crisis. Given this, PAs need to channel more resources towards climate change mitigation, as their operations contribute to direct and indirect carbon emissions. Specific policies guiding PAs to adopt technologies that deal directly with their carbon footprint should be promulgated if the emissions gap is to be closed.