Adapting Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Risks: Perspectives of Cultural Heritage Experts in Europe

Abstract

Changes in rainfall patterns, humidity, and temperature, as well as greater exposure to severe weather events, has led to the need for adapting cultural heritage to climate change. However, there is limited research accomplished to date on the process of adaptation of cultural heritage to climate change. This paper examines the perceptions of experts involved in the management and preservation of cultural heritage on adaptation to climate change risks. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from the UK, Italy, and Norway as well as a participatory workshop with stakeholders. The results indicate that the majority of interviewees believe that adaptation of cultural heritage to climate change is possible. Opportunities for, barriers to, and requirements for adapting cultural heritage to climate change, as perceived by the interviewees, provided a better understanding of what needs to be provided and prioritized for adaptation to take place and in its strategic planning. Knowledge of management methodologies incorporating climate change impacts by the interviewees together with best practice examples in adapting cultural heritage to climate change are also reported. Finally, the interviewees identified the determinant factors for the implementation of climate change adaptation. This paper highlights the need for more research on this topic and the identification and dissemination of practical solutions and tools for the incorporation of climate change adaptation in the preservation and management of cultural heritage.

Indoor Multi-Risk Scenarios of Climate Change Effects on Building Materials in Scandinavian Countries

“…The climate change effect will affect the deterioration level in historic buildings depending on the geographic location and type of constructive material [31]. For this reason, cultural heritage managers have to plan and implement adaptation actions that can work effectively for the years to come [47]. An effective adaption intervention has to consider not only the actual situation of the building but also the effects of the climate change over an extended period.…”

Increasing the Resilience of Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Through the Application of a Learning Strategy

“…Information from semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a larger study (also presented elsewhere, e.g. Sesana et al 2018) were extrapolated in order to understand the perceptions of climate change impacts on cultural heritage amongst selected experts working in the field of cultural heritage in three European countries: Norway, Italy and the UK. The data collected during those interviews were then compared with the results from the CfC project, which estimated the impacts of future climate change on cultural heritage in sites or in the region where the interviewed stakeholders are located.…”

“…Research accomplished to date on adapting our cultural heritage to climate change centres on the dissemination of guidelines and recommendations to implement adaptation measures (Sabbioni et al, 2010, Sabbioni et al, 2008, Heathcote et al, 2017, Haugen and Mattsson, 2011, Cassar, 2016, Pollard-Belsheim et al, 2014, Carmichael et al, 2017a, Fatorić and Seekamp, 2017a, Grøntoft, 2011, Hall, 2015 and on the identification of opportunities and barriers to adaptation (Phillips, 2014, Fatorić and Seekamp, 2017b, Carmichael et al, 2017b, Casey, 2018, Sesana et al, 2018. Preserving cultural heritage from the impacts of climate change requires a shift from reactive to proactive adaptation (Sesana et al, 2018). However, the process of deciding when and how proactive adaptation is appropriate, and its connection to the knowledge base amongst stakeholders is unclear.…”

“…What approach do they follow to gather and apply that knowledge? Building on the knowledge requirement for adaptation reported in the literature (Sesana et al, 2018), we argue that an increased understanding of the learning process underpinning the adaptation measures that have occurred in cultural heritage preservation would better inform the management of cultural heritage (McDonald-Madden et al, 2010, Williams, 2011.…”

Pars pro toto—Remote Sensing Data for the Reconstruction of a Rounded Chalcolithic Site from NE Romania: The Case of Ripiceni–Holm Settlement (Cucuteni Culture)

“…Currently, within the interdisciplinary scientific community focusing on archaeology and its sustainable management, it is commonly accepted that archaeological sites are threatened more than ever by the effects of increasingly occurring natural disasters like gullying [3,4], landslides [5,6], rock fall [7], floods [8,9], sea-level rise [10], coastal erosion [11,12], and human activities (high-intensity agriculture, infrastructure works, and urban sprawl) [13]. Natural disasters, increasingly more intense and frequent with the backdrop of climate change, pose a tremendous threat for cultural heritage [14,15]. While archaeological sites from the shores of seas and oceans are intensively studied [12,16], sites located on shore areas of large inland artificial reservoirs are seldom considered [17,18].…”