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Can tourism help bring the world together while confronting the climate crisis? Speaking to scientists in Ningbo, China, Professor Geoffrey Lipman introduced CanadaStrong.travel, an international alliance connecting Peace Parks, sustainability and climate-friendly tourism. His message included a direct invitation to Chinese researchers and an unusual AI-created character: the extinct Dodo, returning to warn tourism destinations about their environmental future.
At a science conference in Ningbo, China, Professor Geoffrey Lipman called for stronger Chinese participation in global tourism climate research while introducing CanadaStrong.travel, an international coalition connecting climate-friendly travel, peace, environmental responsibility and sustainable tourism.
Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President of SUNx Malta and a longtime advocate for climate action in tourism, addressed a science conference in Ningbo, China, on October 27, 2026, with a message extending beyond conventional tourism sustainability.
His proposal connects scientific cooperation, China’s growing international tourism influence, and a new initiative called CanadaStrong.travel, bringing together tourism and sustainability organizations to promote friendship through Peace Parks worldwide.
At the heart of his address was a fundamental challenge: Can the tourism industry become a meaningful contributor to climate resilience and international cooperation while continuing to grow in a world increasingly threatened by global warming?
China, Maurice Strong and the future of climate-friendly tourism
Lipman opened by acknowledging China’s role in global climate resilience and its importance as both an international tourism source market and destination.
He also paid tribute to the late Maurice Strong, the Canadian environmental pioneer whose influence on international sustainability policy and connections with China remain central to Lipman’s thinking.
Lipman explained that his participation had three objectives: supporting China’s climate resilience leadership, bringing tourism into the scientific conversation, and continuing Strong’s vision of international environmental cooperation.
His warning was unmistakable.
“The existential Climate crisis is the single most pressing challenge facing the world today.”
Lipman cautioned that failure to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement could leave humanity, in his deliberately provocative comparison, as “Dead as the Dodo.”
The extinct bird has become a recurring symbol in SUNx Malta’s climate education efforts, illustrating the potential consequences of ignoring environmental warnings.
A scientific invitation to China
One of the most substantive elements of Lipman’s speech concerned the Tourism Panel on Climate Change (TPCC), which he co-founded with Professors Daniel Scott and Susanne Becken.
Describing TPCC as an equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focused on tourism, Lipman outlined its international research network
According to his presentation, TPCC brings together experts from 31 countries, representing all IPCC and UN Tourism regions, with participation from 35 universities and specialists in government, industry and civil society.
Its first global stocktake, published in 2023, concluded that tourism was falling significantly behind the climate ambitions established under the Paris Agreement.
Lipman pointed toward 2027, designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism, as an opportunity for a second global assessment.
He invited scientists attending the Ningbo conference to collaborate with TPCC and WAOSD, seeking a more prominent Chinese role in future research.
For the travel industry, this is potentially more consequential than another sustainability declaration. Better scientific coordination could help destinations assess climate risks, improve resilience planning and understand whether tourism policies are producing measurable results.
CanadaStrong.travel: Tourism partnerships for peace and sustainability
Lipman also introduced a creative dimension to his message: CanadaStrong.travel, described as a coalition of Travel & Tourism partners working within the framework of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17, which emphasizes partnerships.
The coalition includes:
- International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT)
- SUNx Malta
- World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (WSHA)
- Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
- Earth Charter Institute
- POP (Protect Our Planet)
- Ingle International
- Tripian
- World Tourism Network (WTN)
The initiative seeks to encourage friendship through Peace Parks while promoting climate-resilient, sustainable and nature-positive tourism.
The concept builds on a longstanding idea that tourism can connect people across political, cultural and geographical divisions.
However, its potential impact will depend on whether participating organizations can translate shared values into funded projects, measurable environmental improvements and sustained destination-level cooperation.
For smaller tourism enterprises, especially those without extensive sustainability budgets, such partnerships could eventually offer access to knowledge, networks and practical resources.
Dodo Visits Ningbo: Climate education meets artificial intelligence
To illustrate the concept, Lipman presented delegates with a Chinese-language booklet titled Dodo Visits Ningbo, prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The publication follows two fictional young climate scientists, Ari and Leila, accompanied by Dodo, an AI holographic character representing the extinct bird.
Their journey explores Ningbo’s tourism attractions while introducing possible responses to climate-related threats.
At Tianyi Pavilion, the story examines humidity and the preservation of historical manuscripts. At Dongqian Lake, it explores ecosystem protection and water quality. Baoguo Temple becomes a setting for discussing the resilience of historic wooden architecture.
Other chapters consider environmental challenges at the Shanglin Lake Yue Kiln Sites and ecological visitor-management approaches around Mount Xuedou.
These are fictional educational scenarios and proposed solutions, not verified accounts of existing environmental damage or approved engineering projects.
Nevertheless, the approach raises an interesting possibility for destination marketing: using AI-assisted storytelling to connect heritage tourism, environmental education and practical climate awareness.
Lipman described the booklet as the first in a planned series under the CanadaStrong.travel alliance.
What this means for global tourism
Lipman’s Ningbo address brought together three areas that tourism organizations frequently discuss separately: scientific research, climate adaptation and international friendship.
The more difficult question is how these ambitions become operational.
Tourism remains economically important to countries and communities worldwide, yet its dependence on aviation, transport infrastructure, water, energy and vulnerable natural environments makes climate adaptation increasingly urgent.
The proposed TPCC cooperation with Chinese scientists offers one possible route toward stronger evidence-based policy.
CanadaStrong.travel, meanwhile, introduces a partnership platform that could connect environmental education and peace-building with destination tourism.
Its effectiveness will ultimately be judged by participation, transparency, financing and outcomes rather than the number of organizations associated with the initiative.
Lipman’s concluding message encouraged delegates to explore Ningbo’s scenery, culture and heritage while considering the climate challenges facing destinations worldwide.
The wider message was that tourism’s future cannot be separated from the planet’s future — and that scientific collaboration, even across geopolitical divides, may be essential to protecting both.
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