World Heritage and Climate Change
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that human-caused global warming will melt ice sheets, causing sea levels to rise, and producing droughts, floods and extreme weather events across the world. In June 2007, UNESCO published an expert report designed to assist the 184 countries that are parties to the World Heritage Convention – an international framework designed to help preserve and protect some of the world’s most beautiful and unique places.
Melting Glaciers: A Symbol of Climate Change
According to a report released this year by UNESCO, by the end of the century, the average global temperature is predicted to rise 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit. UNESCO reports that just a 4 degree increase of atmospheric temperature will eliminate nearly all the glaciers on Earth, and cites effects of climate change including:
- Animal and plant species being forced to migrate to different areas, affecting biodiversity “hotspots” and World Heritage sites such as Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania.
- Floods from the melting ice and pooling water causing disastrous flooding downstream.
- Disappearing ice detracting from the natural beauty of mountainous sites.
Biodiversity
The majority of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and a vast portion of that landscape is threatened by climate change. Due to changing conditions, rising temperatures, and increased acidity of the oceans, 70% of the world’s deep sea corals, which are essential to the survival of thousands of fish species, will be disturbed.
- The gradual warming of waters around delicate coral reef ecosystems, such as the 2,900 reefs that make up Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, leads to coral bleaching. The bleaching of reefs robs them of their beautiful red and pink hues, and signifies an almost certain death for the reef and its ecosystem.
Changing weather conditions also threaten plant and animal species. For many natural and cultural World Heritage sites, this may mean a significant loss of biodiversity and or even species extinction.
- Increasing temperatures may cause dry regions to become even drier, and put rare plant species at risk from drought and fire. If the plant species in the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas in South Africa, home to a staggering 20 percent of Africa’s plant species, die out, thousands of other insect and animal species will die with them.
Manmade Sites
The harmful effects of climate change threaten ecological and manmade treasures alike.
- Humidity changes, drought cycles and increasing temperatures wreak havoc on archaeological sites like Chavín Archaeological Site in Peru or Timbuktu in Mali.
- Rising seas threaten coastal settlements, such as the Italian city of Venice and its lagoons.
What can be done:
UNESCO, together with governments around the world, is working to create strategies for World Heritage sites to adapt in light of climate change. But you also have a role.
You can take small but important steps to help by:
- Reducing your carbon emissions by switching to energy-saving appliances, or taking public transportation whenever possible;
- Purchasing carbon offsets whenever you travel; or
- Choosing sustainable community tour operators when you travel to help protect biodiversity and support local economic development.
You can also advocate for governments and other groups to take larger actions such as:
- Creating more protected areas, such as those designated as National Parks or UNESCO World Heritage sites.
- Designating more resources to be devoted to environmental monitoring. Early detection of coral bleaching, for example, increases the chances that measures can be taken to reduce factors leading to bleaching, improving the likelihood that threatened reefs can be saved.
Go back to the World Heritage in Danger index page
