Iconic Destinations Slowly Being Destroyed By Climate Change

Permeating every aspect of life in every country on Earth, the effects of climate change are already devastating. In the U.S. alone, rising temperatures have been responsible for billions of dollars of damage, the displacement of millions, and the deaths of thousands in 2024. Things are expected to get worse, and many glorious areas of natural beauty favored by tourists are set to face total destruction in the foreseeable future.

While it may seem too massive a problem for the tourism industry to confront directly, the funds travelers bring to individual nations can stir their governments into action. Several of the world's best tourism destinations have already made great strides in combating the first wave of climate change consequences, spurred on by the risk of losing out on essential tourism investment. The Great Barrier Reef, Australia's natural wonder of the world, has seen its coral bleached by record heat and its marine life migrate to cooler climes. Though the effect on the reef has been catastrophic, Australia took immediate action, launching a restoration project of unprecedented size and encouraging tourists to take part in the task. Another oft-cited victim of rising tides is the island-borne city of Venice, where the ancient canals have begun to burst their bounds. Facing the fate of the fabled Atlantis as early as 2150, the sinking city installed a system of gates and barriers which has quelled, for now, the rising tides.

So, it is possible that you won't have to plan a farewell tour of the world's glaciers, reefs, islands, and forests on a "last chance tourism" trip, as long as more of the world's iconic destinations follow suit and take immediate action to stem the surge of climate catastrophe before it's too late. But for now, there are still several spots that are slowly being destroyed by climate change.

To those not in the know, a 1-foot rise in sea water levels might seem an inconsequential increase. Yet, for the people of the Maldives, it's enough to decimate their idyllic shores. The Indian Ocean nation comprises 1,190 coral islands, 80% of which sit less than 3 feet above sea level. Scientists have warned that these low-lying isles could be rendered uninhabitable as early as 2050, and the Maldivian government has already investigated buying great swathes of land in other countries to house its potential 300,000 climate refugees.

Quickly encroaching on the ultra-luxury oceanfront resorts and the sensational Maldivian beach villas that entice travelers to the small archipelagic nation, the rising ocean tides threaten to devastate the destination. More than 2 million travelers still make the voyage to the pristine islands annually, but their stays are already being disturbed by the symptoms of climate change.

According to the Maldives' 2024 Country Climate and Development Report, over 90% of surveyed Maldivian resorts have reported erosion on their beaches and 60% have faced infrastructure damage linked to climate change. The country's glorious sprawls of technicolor coral are perishing at a rapid pace, with the report predicting that they could disappear entirely if global temperatures rise by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or more. And as its dry seasons grow longer and longer, the country is forced to fight for freshwater supplies, with its significant shortage exacerbated by its growing population and enduring popularity with tourists.

For the last 55 million years, the mighty Amazon Rainforest has endured. All life on Earth owes a debt to the enormous South American jungle, not only the 10% of all global species that exist within its 2.3-million-square-mile bounds. For tens of millions of years before humans even existed, the Amazon was breathing life-sustaining oxygen into the air. Now, humans are fast-tracking its demise through mass deforestation.

Ransacking the rainforest for all of the profitable resources that people can possibly extract, industrialized cupidity has caused the jungle to succumb to an overwhelming influx of invaders: gold miners stripping the earth, illegal loggers carving apart billions of ancient evergreens, and ranchers burning great swathes of land to expand their cattle-rearing space. Combined with the increased voracity of wildfires, caused by the world's rising temperatures, climate threats have already claimed more than 185 million acres of the Amazon since 1978.

The consequences of climate change don't solely affect the Amazonian flora and fauna. More than 40 million people live in the Amazon. It's home to Indigenous inhabitants of settlements deep in the rainforest, families working in bustling riverside trading towns, and relative urbanites living in the world's largest city inaccessible by land. There are thought to be as many as 100 uncontacted tribes living inside the jungle, entire cultures that face the threat of being slaughtered by a phenomenon they have never heard of and never contributed to.

For most travelers envisioning a wild African safari adventure, ticking off sightings of the "big five" is a priority: watching elephants and buffalos languish in savannah lagoons, seeing lions and leopards stalk their prey, and coming face to face with rare rhinos. Yet, as the climate in sub-Saharan Africa rapidly changes, its iconic inhabitants face imminent peril.

Hundreds of those elephants have perished in mass poisonings caused by climate change. Habitat destruction and rising temperatures are driving those lions out of the safety of their parks and picking off the leopards entirely. The buffalo can no longer roam the full span of their great migratory route, and climate change threatens to be the last nail in the coffin for the long-suffering rhino population. It's not only the headline-topping big mammals that we should be concerned about — up to 40% of all of the species spotted in Africa's iconic safari parks are expected to become endangered by 2080.

Shifting temperatures and rainfall changes have forced popular sub-Saharan African safari destinations to suffer extended periods of drought. The rise in the temperatures globally has caused fatal heats and an increase of aridity in the continent, threatening food sources and wildlife sanctuaries across its southern and eastern regions. Already facing recurrent hunger crises, severe poverty exacerbated by foreign resource extraction, and ongoing instability, the region that contributes the least to the ongoing climate crisis is set to suffer some of its harshest consequences.

While temperatures continue to climb across the world, the heat is rising at four times the global average in the Arctic. At least 75% of the summer sea ice in the region has been lost as a consequence, already impacting the 21,000 species that inhabit the frozen north. The habitats that they have relied on throughout history can no longer support them, and the melting of the permafrost is releasing millions of tons of methane and carbon dioxide into their air. The iconic animals and staggering glaciers that draw roughly 1 million annual travelers to the polar north are unlikely to survive as the Arctic climate becomes a hopeless cause in the eyes of world leaders.

The seemingly sudden interest that global politicians are paying to rare earth minerals sourced in polar regions like Greenland and northern Canada isn't a fleeting fancy: As the Arctic has begun to disappear, investors have hurried to strip it of the natural resources concealed under the ice. Oil, gas, rare minerals, and key shipping routes are all primed for plunder as far as the Arctic's neighboring nations seem to be concerned. First in line for fresh resources, the same companies that contribute the most to climate change are the ones that are setting plans for extraction from the Arctic. The callousness of commerce continues to warp the climate of the polar north, and one of the last conserved regions on Earth is set to face its final fall without swift intervention.

Can we still call it Glacier National Park once all of the glaciers have melted away? As the planet heats up at increasingly rapid rates, the national park's eponymous marvels have begun to see significant shrinkage. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University, 39 of the park's signature glaciers have been grievously afflicted. Analyzing data collected between 1966 and 2017, the study revealed that the most affected ice masses had already shrunk by up to 85%. Exacerbated by steeply rising heats in the U.S. over the years since 2017, with Glacier National Park heating nearly two times faster than the rest of the world, the park's fragile ecosystem is starting to face the consequences.

The glacial shrink has placed already threatened species into greater peril, vastly impacting the ecology of the northern U.S. Fishermen planning a scenic retreat to cast into the largest lakes of Glacier National Park face extended closure periods, as high heats, droughts, and climate-linked diseases stagnate the fish populations. The nearly 350 species that draw wildlife-loving travelers to Montana are all under threat, including its iconic mammals. The giant grizzlies will struggle to find the berries that can comprise up to 50% of their diet, as the berries' habitat is set to shrink by as much as 40%. Meanwhile, the emblematic glacier-scaling mountain goats face quasi-extinction thanks to climate change. Glacier National Park's 1,583 square miles of pristinely preserved natural beauty could be damaged beyond repair by ripping fires and habitat destruction as U.S. heats hit record highs.