TOURISM AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN ISLAND COUNTRIES used. These are mainly meteorology, oceanography, physics, chemistry, etc. Added to this is the development of computer models of the climate system, which today constitute a pillar of climate research. Climate change represents all the variations in climatic characteristics in a given place and over time. These variations can take the form of warming or cooling. Some forms of air pollution, resulting from human activities, threaten to significantly alter the climate in the direction of global warming. This phenomenon can cause significant damage: rising sea levels, accentuation of extreme climatic events (droughts, floods, cyclones), destabilization of forests, threats to freshwater resources, agricultural difficulties, desertification, reduction of biodiversity, spread of tropical diseases, etc. In its assessment reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a definition of climate change as being a modification of the climate which can be identified from statistical measurements. This modification, which persists over long periods of time, leads to a destabilization of the variability and properties of the climate. (Change, 2011)5 . The IPCC is an organization initially established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) whose mission is to evaluate and scientifically synthesize technical, social and economic information.(Weart, 2019)6 on the evolution of climate change. It also studies the possible consequences of this change and proposes strategies and methods to limit them and adapt to current and medium- and long-term consequences. This organization demonstrates that the human factor is a determining factor, thus proving that climate change is a consequence that is not solely the responsibility of the natural factor. All of the variations in climatic characteristics generating a change in the climate over time towards warming and/or cooling would be the result of human activities. It is stated in the definition of the climate change phenomenon by the IPCC that the consequences of climate change will last over long periods (up to decades) and that the human factor plays a major role in the degradation contributing to the expected results short and long term. These results, which are harmful to overall well-being, are also harmful to the international economy in particular and specifically to the tourism sector. It is inevitable to analyze these results which are now measurable by the IPCC using statistical tools and data collections established by experts. These results are adopted by several international organizations, which 5Change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate – 2011. 6Weart, Spence. The Discovery of Global Warming [online]. Available at <https://history.aip.org/history/climate/internat.htm#S9> (accessed 09.11.2019).
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