SUSTAINABILITY: UNWTO AND THE WORLD CODE OF ETHICS FOR TOURISM The UNWTO and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) monitor CO2 emissions in the tourism sector. These analyses take into account both the amount of CO2 emitted by means of transport such as airplanes and buses and all the energy needed to provide services in the sector, such as food, infrastructure and beverages. Managing these impacts involves general measures involving public and private efforts to improve the sector's energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, increase the use of renewable energy sources and carbon sequestration policies (UNWTO, UNEP, 2008). The Organization’s work at international level was reflected in the institutionalization of the sector in Latin America in general. In the Amazon region, for example, the First Amazon Tourism Plan was created in 1977, shining a light on the sector as a way of developing local communities. However, these first initiatives were aimed at populating the region on the basis of an urban business community that was not yet aware of the environmental and social impacts of tourist complexes (FARIAS, 2014). The WTO's orientation in the 1970s was that tourism should be thought of in the context of public administration, so that the activity could rely on hierarchical categories that could boost tourism activities. It wasn't until the 1990s that the Organization redirected its understanding of the role of the state in tourism strategies and municipalities became important administrative entities in the decentralization and operationalization of tourism development program (TAVARES, 2021). The very relationship between the Amazon territory and tourism changed in the meantime, since in the early 1970s the initial concern was to create structures for the development of tourism in the region. Thus, to a large extent, the primary focus was on establishing hotel structures, since the region's first Tourism Plan directed its resources towards infrastructure (FARIAS, 2014, p. 195). On the other hand, Nóbrega points out that: the provision of infrastructure in the Amazon, much of it financed by foreign capital, such as agricultural, road, mining and hydroelectric projects, directly affected the dynamics of the region and consequently led to changes in the productive sphere. (NÓBREGA, 2013, p. 108). It wasn't until almost a decade later, with the promotion of ecotourism, that EMBRATUR (Brazilian Agency for the International Promotion of Tourism) began to lean towards another concept of tourism, more concerned with social and environmental aspects (FARIAS, 2014, p.196).
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