World Heritage and Climate Action

Climate change is the most serious threat to our world. Global warming today is having significant measurable impacts on average temperatures, with consequences like the increase of sea levels, prolonged droughts, extreme weather events, and alteration of the condition of plant and animal life. 

The deforestation processes, the contamination of the oceans and of the earth, the release of greenhouse gasses from unsustainable urban, industrial, and agricultural activities are accelerating impacts that were previously forecast for a more distant future. Should the present trends continue, in a few years the world could be shattered by a chain of catastrophic events, with unpredictable social, economic, and political impacts.

The public today is well aware of the risks linked to climate change on World Natural Heritage properties, as several cases have been documented and publicised.

The massive collapse of the corals of the Great barrier reef in Australia...

...the melting of the Ilulissat (Jakobshavn) Glacier in Greenland...

...these are just a few examples of what should be seen as a major threat to the preservation of natural environments of global significance.

But World Cultural Heritage sites are also suffering from the impacts of climate change. In countless situations, cultural heritage sites are experiencing direct impacts and increasing stresses due to the high frequency of storms, coastal erosion, desertification and the emergence of other phenomena directly or indirectly affecting the conservation of fragile built environments, such as the modification in precipitation regimes or increased soil temperatures.

The time has come to act to protect cultural heritage sites from damage brought about by climate change, in order to preserve their values and ensure their transmission to future generations.

 In recent years, the issue of climate change and the protection of heritage form its impacts has been brought to the forefront of the work of the World Heritage Committee, that has adopted several recommendations aiming to mobilize global climate action on the ground.

In this framework, the Heritage on the Edge project can play an important role in developing capacities, in testing methodologies and policies, and in assessing the effectiveness of local responses to the risks induced by climate change.

Preserving our endangered cultural heritage should not be seen as a challenge for specialists alone. It is a collective responsibility that reflects core values of contemporary societies, reflected by the mobilisation of financial and technical resources, by the development of heritage conservation policies and by the support provided to heritage in danger by governments, private organisations, NGOs, and by the public.