Harmonising CSR and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies to Build Community Adaptive Capacity in Bali's Tourism Sector

1. Introduction

The threat of climate change has been with us for many years. Yet, the willingness to pay for implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies, and determining who pays, remain major hurdles (Prideaux, McKercher, & McNamara, 2013). It would be easy for the business community to simply step back and do nothing while government and regulators argue about what should be done (Hawkins, 2006). However, the tourism industry cannot afford to wait as climate change may be putting pressure on business performance, especially in coastal or island destinations, through such factors as coastal erosion, storms, water shortage and increasing temperatures. In addition, consumers, stakeholders and governments are placing increasing expectations on companies to be aware of the social and environmental impacts of their businesses (de Grosbois, 2012).

The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in tackling local and global environmental problems, including climate change, has been highlighted in the research literature. For example, Bohdanowicz (2007) reported that the Hilton Environmental Reporting (HER) system is an effective tool for measuring and monitoring a firm’s environmental initiatives as well as successful implementation of CSR. Similarly, Sheldon and Park (2011) contend that CSR plays an important role in answering environmental degradation issues, climate change, and social and human rights issues. However, very little research has focused on tourism and community adaptive capacity. This chapter aims to address this paucity, demonstrating how tourism managers can harmonise their CSR initiatives with climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. This brings both business advantages as well as enhancing community adaptive capacity as part of their responsibility as good citizens.

This chapter consists of five sections, including this introduction. The background section provides the theoretical framework and methodological approaches applied in the study in the context of a literature review. Key findings from a Bali case study are presented in the third section, including empirical examples of CSR initiatives within Bali’s tourism businesses that address climate change. Section four discusses the findings further by focusing on motives, facilitators and inhibitors in undertaking CSR initiatives in Bali’s tourism industries. Finally, section five draws together overall conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for future research.