Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Cultural Heritage |
| Early online date | 17 Jul 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 17 Jul 2019 |
| Event | Workshop on vulnerability and adaptation of cultural heritage to climate change - New Lanark World Heritage Site, Lanark, United Kingdom Duration: 22 Mar 2018 → 22 Mar 2018 |
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Keywords
- Climate change
- Cultural heritage
- Europe
- Vulnerability assessment
- World Heritage Sites
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An integrated approach for assessing the vulnerability of World Heritage Sites to climate change impacts. / Sesana, Elena; Gagnon, Alexandre; Bonazza, Alessandra; Hughes, John.
In: Journal of Cultural Heritage, 17.07.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - An integrated approach for assessing the vulnerability of World Heritage Sites to climate change impacts
AU - Sesana, Elena
AU - Gagnon, Alexandre
AU - Bonazza, Alessandra
AU - Hughes, John
PY - 2019/7/17
Y1 - 2019/7/17
N2 - One of the most difficult problem facing those responsible for managing World Heritage Sites (WHS) is climate change, as it poses continuous new challenges to the conservation of cultural heritage. Moreover, as our climate continues to change our cultural heritage will potentially be exposed to diverse pressures and potentially to risks not previously experienced. Thus, management practices will need to be tailored in order to include climate change impacts. For climate change impacts to be incorporated into preservation frameworks and management practices from government policy level down to the practice in the field, data, information and assessment methods need to be available at a scale relevant to decision-makers. This paper presents an integrated vulnerability assessment methodology and applies it to three UNESCO cultural WHS in Europe. Through this process, semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and experts in the management and conservation of cultural heritage, as well as with the managers and coordinators of WHS. The incorporation of bottom-up knowledge in the assessment process allowed for an understanding of the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the sites, two components of vulnerability that are not given sufficient attention and ignored, respectively, in typical top-down climate change impact assessments. In particular, the interviews elucidated the determinants that enable or constrain the capacity to adapt, i.e., resources, including technical, economic and human; information and awareness; management capacity; learning capacity; leadership; communication and collaboration; and governance; with the lack of resources most commonly mentioned as the determinant impeding adaptation. ‘Information and awareness’ and ‘management capacity’ are determinants that were not previously identified in the field of cultural heritage. The former stresses the need to disseminate the results of scientific research for their incorporation in the management of heritage sites. Vulnerability assessments such as those performed in this paper can be used to target interventions to protect and strengthen the resilience of cultural heritage to climate change impacts.
AB - One of the most difficult problem facing those responsible for managing World Heritage Sites (WHS) is climate change, as it poses continuous new challenges to the conservation of cultural heritage. Moreover, as our climate continues to change our cultural heritage will potentially be exposed to diverse pressures and potentially to risks not previously experienced. Thus, management practices will need to be tailored in order to include climate change impacts. For climate change impacts to be incorporated into preservation frameworks and management practices from government policy level down to the practice in the field, data, information and assessment methods need to be available at a scale relevant to decision-makers. This paper presents an integrated vulnerability assessment methodology and applies it to three UNESCO cultural WHS in Europe. Through this process, semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and experts in the management and conservation of cultural heritage, as well as with the managers and coordinators of WHS. The incorporation of bottom-up knowledge in the assessment process allowed for an understanding of the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the sites, two components of vulnerability that are not given sufficient attention and ignored, respectively, in typical top-down climate change impact assessments. In particular, the interviews elucidated the determinants that enable or constrain the capacity to adapt, i.e., resources, including technical, economic and human; information and awareness; management capacity; learning capacity; leadership; communication and collaboration; and governance; with the lack of resources most commonly mentioned as the determinant impeding adaptation. ‘Information and awareness’ and ‘management capacity’ are determinants that were not previously identified in the field of cultural heritage. The former stresses the need to disseminate the results of scientific research for their incorporation in the management of heritage sites. Vulnerability assessments such as those performed in this paper can be used to target interventions to protect and strengthen the resilience of cultural heritage to climate change impacts.
KW - Climate change
KW - Cultural heritage
KW - Europe
KW - Vulnerability assessment
KW - World Heritage Sites
U2 - 10.1016/j.culher.2019.06.013
DO - 10.1016/j.culher.2019.06.013
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Cultural Heritage
JF - Journal of Cultural Heritage
SN - 1296-2074
ER -