Abstract
As part of an APEC project, a group of sustainability specialists spent 4 days on Koh Samui in August 2012, developing a low carbon model for the tourism destination, Koh Samui. This group met with local representatives, visited key sites, and liaised with a range of consultants and government specialists. The outcome was a 60 page report with 82 recommendations across all aspects of sustainability.

A key aspect of the project was understanding local culture and business aspirations, and ensuring that the resultant recommendations supported local community development, rather than imposing generic policies and measures. This led to interesting proposals, such as multi-purpose public transport vehicles, linking of sustainable energy and climate response to growing local economic activity, and a focus on optimising tourism experiences rather than growing tourist numbers. The presentation will outline the project and its findings, and discuss issues that arose.

About Alan Pears AM:
Alan Pears AM is a half-time senior lecturer in Sustainability and Urban Planning at RMIT. He also works as a consultant in sustainable energy, green building and development, and energy policy. Alan has a long history as a leader in these fields, and has been involved in many of the major policy initiatives in Australia, including building energy efficiency, appliance efficiency, public education on sustainable energy, green building rating tool development, and numerous specific projects including working on the 60L Green Building and other building projects, and green appliance design. Alan has received several industry awards, a Centenary Medal and AM for his contributions.

Image by Jude Freeman via Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0