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Statue of Liberty and Venice under climate change threat, says UN
Statue of Liberty and Venice among sites at risk from climate change, says UN
(about 3 hours later)
Some of the world’s most famous heritage sites – from the Statue of Liberty and Venice to the Galapagos Islands – could be irreversibly damaged by climate change, a report has warned.
Climate change now poses the single biggest threat to the world’s most famous heritage sites – including the Galápagos islands, the Statue of Liberty, Easter Island and Venice – according to a UN sponsored report.
Historic and natural world heritage sites are already feeling the brunt of increasing temperatures, with rising seas, erosion and storms hitting Orkney’s neolithic coastal treasures and important tropical coral reefs being “bleached” by warmer seas.
Other sites, such as the world-famous stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire, are likely to be affected by global warming with changes to wildlife and its impacts on the landscape and the risk of more intense rainfall and flash flooding.
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There is an “urgent and clear” need to limit temperature rises to protect key heritage, the study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the UN heritage body Unesco and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says.
The researchers looked at 31 natural and cultural world heritage sites in 29 countries that are vulnerable to increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas, more intense weather, worsening droughts and longer wildfire seasons. They believe this number is the tip of the iceberg.
The researchers looked at 31 natural and cultural world heritage sites in 29 countries that are vulnerable to increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas, more intense weather, worsening droughts and longer wildfire seasons.
There is an urgent and clear need to limit temperature rises to protect key heritage, the study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the UN heritage body Unesco and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concludes.
Climate change will exacerbate problems, if it is not doing so already, faced by some of the world’s most famous and popular heritage sites, such as the Galapagos Islands, which helped Charles Darwin form his theory of evolution, the study found.
The Statue of Liberty in New York is one of the sites at risk from rising sea levels and storms, illustrated by the devastating Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Global warming is raising sea levels and increasing the risk of floods, droughts and potentially fiercer storms, all of which can cause severe damage. The Galápagos islands, where Charles Darwin gained insights into evolution, and monuments and natural wonders from the port of Cartagena in Colombia to the Shiretoko national park in Japan, were also named as being under threat.
Threats to the unique wildlife caused by 205,000 visitors a year, invasive species and illegal fishing are now being joined by rising seas, warming and more acidic oceans and extreme weather.
Other sites that bring in important tourism revenue could be particularly badly hit, such as Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable national park, where rising temperatures could affect the habitat of endangered mountain gorillas.
At Stonehenge, warmer winters are likely to boost populations of burrowing animals that could disturb archaeological deposits and destabilise stonework.
Stonehenge, the 5,000-year-old stone circle whose original purpose remains mysterious, is another of more than 30 major world heritage sites under threat from local flooding linked to global warming.
Hotter drier summers could increase visitor numbers and change the plant species which stabilise the chalk downlands, causing more soil erosion, while Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill face increased rainfall and flash floods.
“Climate change is affecting world heritage sites across the globe,” said Adam Markham, the lead author of the report. “Some Easter Island statues are at risk of being lost to the sea because of coastal erosion.” He also pointed to coral reefs, which have been bleached owing to higher temperatures, and the threat to wildlife living in the affected areas, as well as tourism, which is an important source of income helping to preserve many of the sites.
More severe problems threaten the Heart of Neolithic Orkney world heritage site, where many archaeological sites are on the coast due to the importance of the sea in stone age life, and at least half are under threat from coastal erosion
Scientists involved in the report said it was vital to limit global warming to no more than 2C, regarded by experts as the limit of safety beyond which climate change is likely to become catastrophic and irreversible. Governments agreed at a landmark climate conference last December that they would cut greenhouse gas emissions to the level needed to prevent temperatures rising that high.
Five-thousand-year-old Skara Brae, the best-preserved stone age dwelling complex in western Europe with houses and stone furniture, is the highest-profile site at risk of eventual loss of coastal erosion, the study says.
“Now, more than ever, we need countries to back up with action the promises they made in Paris,” said Markham, in a conference call with journalists on Thursday.
Lead author of the report and deputy director of the climate and energy programme at UCS, Adam Markham, said: “Orkney and the whole of Scotland is the poster child for eroding archaeology sites.
Local economic development in the areas near world heritage sites – which UNESCO is charged with defining and helping to protect – would be damaged if the sites were affected by climate change, said Mechtild Roessler, director of UNESCO’s world heritage centre. That development is essential to protecting the sites, which include areas of natural beauty as well as monuments.
“There are thousands of them and many of them are being lost to coastal erosion and storms.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” said Roessler. There is a clear need for more monitoring of important sites, according to the scientists, and coral reefs in particular are at a tipping point.
“If sea level rise and storms get worse because of global warming then we are going to be losing huge amounts of British heritage directly into the sea,” he warned.
“There is no other threat [than climate change] that affects so many world heritage sites, and has so much potential to cause destruction,” said Markham. Other authors agreed that the report’s assessment was likely to be an underestimate.
Other sites around the world that were at risk from coastal erosion include Easter Island, with its famous head statues, many of which are situated close to the sea, he said.
Without strong action, many areas are likely to face huge bills to protect their treasures. A sea defence being built in Venice is likely to end up costing more than $6bn, for instance. Other studies have also found world heritage areas at risk. Last month, the WWF found that half of the world’s most valued sites were at risk from encroaching development.
Elsewhere sites which bring in important tourism revenue could be particularly badly hit, such as Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable national park where rising temperatures could affect the habitat of endangered mountain gorillas.
Markham said: “The report is representative of the kind of threats these iconic places are experiencing. Some are in direct and immediate danger.
“At every one of these sites we can see the impacts of climate change already. Not in every place is it threatening it yet but it will threaten it in the future.”
New York’s Statue of Liberty was badly hit by Hurricane Sandy, and more intense hurricanes are expected with climate change and sea level rises likely to cause more significant storm surges.
And Venice, with its extraordinary Byzantine, gothic, renaissance and baroque architecture, is under immediate threat from rising sea levels. Work to protect the city from flooding will cost upward €5.4bn, the report said.
Mechtild Rössler, director of Unesco’s world heritage centre, said: “Globally, we need to better understand, monitor and address climate change threats to world heritage sites.
“As the report’s findings underscore, achieving the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to a level well below 2C is vitally important to protecting our world heritage for current and future generations.”
