A CUMBRIA forum on sustainable tourism is being staged today in Windermere as the UN climate change talks open in Katowice, Poland.

Hosted by the Cedar Manor Hotel, delegates, academics and travel writers will hear presentations from experts across the field.

They include Andrea Nicholas, the head of Green Tourism UK; the award-winning climate-change photographer Ashley Cooper; and campaigner Kate Rawles who has recently returned from a year long journey through South America on a bicycle.

Also speaking are Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism, and Sarah Swindley from the Lake District Foundation, which funds conservation, environmental and cultural heritage projects in the Lakes.

The event was organised coincidentally for the day that Sir David Attenborough will take the "peoples’ seat" at the UN summit, taking a message from people around the world.

Hotel owner Jonathan Kaye and his wife Caroline picked up the Sustainable Hotel of the Year award for their efforts in limiting damage to the environment.

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"We know this is a critical issue for the whole world, but we also know we can play our part here in the Lakes." he said "We wanted to join the debate on these issues because here at Cedar Manor we’ve had care for the environment at the heart of all we do, since we took over the business more than 10 years ago.

"Visitors have very high expectations with regard to this, and in the heart of the national park we have a responsibility to maintain and improve the environment."

Almost 200 nations are set to meet in Poland for two weeks, aiming to hammer out a vital agreement to turn the carbon-cutting vision set in Paris in 2015 into reality.