Approaches to monitoring and managing Indigenous Australian coastal cultural heritage places

Abstract

<p>Australia's coastal zone contains a diverse range of cultural heritage places. They are, however, negatively impacted by a multitude of natural and cultural factors. Currently there are few robust site monitoring programmes that focus on identifying the causes and directions of change in the coastal zone and the impacts that these changes have on heritage places. With case studies from Queensland, we outline and evaluate a number of potential approaches to coastal monitoring. They range from localised but inexpensive combinations of anecdotal observations coupled with geoindicators, to the use of more recent and sophisticated technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) remote sensing. We also propose there is a need to establish cooperative information data sharing arrangements in Australia for coastal monitoring studies.</p>

Cultural heritage and risk assessments: Gaps, challenges, and future research directions for the inclusion of heritage within climate change adaptation and disaster management

“…One concern, relating to studies developing tools to map exposure, was the lack of surveys noting the geographic location of heritage assets (e.g. Rowland et al., 2014). A lack of geospatial data is a fundamental barrier to risk assessment across the sector and not a specific challenge for heritage only.…”

Local and Indigenous management of climate change risks to archaeological sites

“…Where data is scarce, one of the first options in managing climate change is developing appropriate monitoring systems (Rowland et al 2014). While all the assessment systems not based on climate change projections avail themselves to a monitoring function, a field survey's in situ gathering of a fixed range of data and consideration of non-climate as well as climate exposure (Daire et al 2012) recommends itself in this capacity also.…”