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This guide defines what sustainability means in tourism, what are the effective approaches for developing strategies and policies for more sustainable tourism and the tools that would make the policies work on the ground.

Executive Summary People all over the world depend on forests and woodlands for a broad range of tangible goods,as well as the often less perceived services such as soil stabilisation and ground water regulation they provide. Refugees and returnees are no exception to this. Many past and current refugee communities are known for their close respect for nature and understanding of natural resource management. Others are less aware,possibly because their lifestyle may have depended on seasonal movements so they never felt much direct association with nurturing a particular tree or forest. Yet, when populations are forced to live in crowded and possible unfamiliar situations – not of their own making or choice – they are often left with no option but to depend on natural resources as a means of survival. At such times, the environment is often placed under some degree of threat.

The nature of the plant breeding process calling for a broad range of plants genetic resources as inputs into any one successful product. Indeed a new plant variety can often be the product of generations of breeding farmers and breeders, which may stretch across many countries. First they are important as an immediate resource i.e for the particular characteristics they may provide, in terms of pest resistance drought tolerance, plant architecture taste or colour.

The European Union needs no introduction. Over half a century, it has brought political stability and economic prosperity to its citizens. It has created a frontier-free single market and a single currency, the euro. It has reunited a fractured continent. The European Union is a major economic and commercial power and the world’s biggest donor of development aid to poorer countries. Its member-ship has grown from six to 27 nations, bringing the EU’s population to nearly half a billion.