Several papers are published about the Blue Flag (BF) eco-label program. Many of them criticize it, mainly because BF reduce ecosystem health of beaches and dunes or because it is not really understood by tourist. At the other side, many researchers and the organizations promoting BF highlight its benefits to improve beach quality, with focus in water quality and environmental awareness.
Within these two perspectives, are Blue Flag eco-label god or bad for beach quality (sanitary, ecosystem and recreation)?
Two papers I recommend to read, in order to contextualize question:
Botero, C., Pereira, C., Tosic, M., Manjarrez, G. 2015. Design of an index for monitoring the environmental quality of tourist beaches from a holistic approach. Ocean & Coastal Management 108: 65-73 DOI 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.07.017 ISSN 0964-5691
Zielinski, S. Botero, C. 2015. Are eco-labels sustainable? Beach certification schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 23:(10) 1550-1572. DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2015.1047376
Hi Camilo,
Obviously these certificates are focused on tourism.
I believe that BF like other certificates, has strengths and weaknesses in terms of environment. I would say positive enough to force administrations to work on some points, such as cleanliness.
The subject seems very interesting and complex. I think we could analyze it in a new study. I would include Q, ISO, and others.
Regards
Hi Camilo¡
The BF tries to justify environmental quality, even when these areas have long lost their geomorphological and ecologic features
the beaches are not characterized for their naturalness; instead they show high levels of human influence and artificialization, there is a lot of services for the bathers, but no real management and conservation of these fragile coastal systems.
The concession of Blue Flag award is strictly focused on services offered to the users of the beach, and they do not take in account environmental and ecological issues related to the behavior of beaches as natural and fragile systems
These kinds of awards should not be sold as eco-labels, but as quality labels of
services offered to the bathers in artificial and urban beaches
There is a paper related to spanish blue flag could be interesting to you:
M. Mir-Gual, G.X. Pons*, J.A. Martín-Prieto, A. Rodríguez-Perea (2015): A critical view of the Blue Flag beaches in Spain using environmental variables. Ocean & Coastal Management 105: 106-115
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239813274_Analisis_critico_de_las_medidas_de_valoracion_en_la_calidad_turistica_y_ambiental_de_los_sistemas_litorales_arenosos
Article Análisis crítico de las medidas de valoración en la calidad ...
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