Western Norway Research Institute

About: Western Norway Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Sogndal, Norway. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Tourism & Climate change. The organization has 74 authors who have published 263 publications receiving 9831 citations.

Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19

Abstract: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is challenging the world. With no vaccine and limited medical capacity to treat the disease, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) are the main strategy to contain ...

Three Challenges for the Compact City as a Sustainable Urban Form: Household Consumption of Energy and Transport in Eight Residential Areas in the Greater Oslo Region

Abstract: The results of a recent survey conducted in eight residential areas in the Greater Oslo Region support the hypothesis that there is a connection between land use characteristics and household consumption of energy and transport. Findings from the survey also lend great support to the compact city as a sustainable urban form. However, three distinct findings indicate that decentralised concentration could lead to even lower energy use in households: while the extent of everyday travel decreases in densely populated areas, the central urban areas represent the highest level of leisure-time travel by plane; the access to a private garden limits the extent of leisure travel; and, the difference in energy use for housing between single-family and multifamily housing is reduced in housing built after 1980, indicating that the established conclusions on the most energy-efficient housing should be questioned.

Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets?

Abstract: This review paper examines the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets postulated by a range of organizations seeking to reduce the consequences of global climate change and how, or if, the global tourism sector can achieve its share of those targets. It takes both existing estimates of current tourism GHG emissions and emissions projected in a business-as-usual scenario through to 2035 and contrasts them with the “aspirational” emission reduction targets proclaimed by the sector. Analysis reveals that with current high-growth emission trends in tourism, the sector could become a major global source of GHGs in the future if other economic sectors achieve significant emission reductions. Success in achieving emission reductions in tourism is found to be largely dependent on major policy and practice changes in air travel, and stated tourism emission reduction targets do not appear feasible without volumetric changes considering the limited technical emission reduction potential currently projected ...