Biodiversity in World Heritage Cultural Landscapes: Possibilities and Problems for Communicating Climate Change and Mobilizing Mitigation

Abstract

When biodiversity is recognized not simply as a natural quality but as a cultural concept and product, it highlights human agency in fostering and promoting biodiversity. Mobilizing human agency becomes particularly important in the face of significant threats to biodiversity, such as those posed by global climate change. UNESCO World Heritage Sites offer an ideal platform for communicating global conservation challenges like climate change, and therefore for mobilizing social action for climate change mitigation. The World Heritage category of cultural landscapes is particularly well suited to presenting biodiversity as a joint natural‐cultural product, and likewise demonstrating both the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the social possibilities for climate action.

Cultural Landscapes under the Threat of Climate Change: A Systematic Study of Barriers to Resilience

“…Often, these barriers are internally connected. To give an example, an integrated approach in documentation and assessments of landscapes-the most constraining factor in building climate adaptation in cultural landscapes-is emphasized together with an integrated approach in understanding climate change vulnerabilities and risks [23,55,85]. Moreover, monitoring the evidence of the impacts of climate change on the landscapes intersects with either of these two determinants of the integrated approach in documentation and assessments of landscape [17] and the integrated approach in understanding climate change vulnerabilities and risks [89].…”

“…Cultural landscapes include woodlands [55], forests, water systems, vineyards, national parks [74], and archaeological and mixed sites. Additionally, considering the multi-and inter-disciplinary nature of the theme of cultural landscapes, cultural [75] and ecosystem services [76], biodiversity [23,77], vegetation and land cover [63,78], and land-use changes [79,80] should be embedded into the documentation of cultural landscapes to capture the "whole story." Along with its intangible values, it is essential to further investigate traditional ecological knowledge [81,82], traditional agricultural knowledge [83], and local fire ecology [84,85].…”

“…Lack of awareness [53,92] can be perceived as a constraint in building climate adaptation in cultural landscapes. Education on climate change and its impact on cultural heritage is limited [23,104]. More education and awareness are required to overcome the challenges and barriers [56], come up with potential solutions, e.g., for the challenges of climate change in the management of dykes and dykelands in Nova Scotia in Canada [112], and adaptive strategies [64], particularly in large-scale planning [65].…”

“…Cultural landscapes evolved in a certain climate, and now climate change is impacting and transforming them [17][18][19]. Cultural landscapes are not only vulnerable to the direct impacts of climate change, e.g., degradation of biodiversity and ecosystems, water scarcity, and erosion of lands, but also to the indirect consequences [20], including the loss of agricultural activities, displacement [17], loss of intangible values [21,22], and decrease in the number of visitors [23]. Although the impacts of climate change have been recognized as a threat to cultural heritage by academics [24][25][26][27][28], the extent and scale of specific challenges of climate change on cultural landscapes have yet to be discovered.…”

Trees, People, and the Environment: using a tree planting site to engage a local community with climate change and biodiversity issues

“…Instead, by framing the data through 'interpretive storylines' that include local context, the data is made relatable, and is more likely to engage an audience (Nisbet, 2009). Positioning climate change and biodiversity loss as a cultural concept allows people to relate to these concepts on a human level, and emphasises the ability of social action to affect biological function (Samuels, 2017). I therefore chose to compare carbon emissions of activities likely to resonate with members of the Ōtaki community, while the biodiversity benefits were integrated into a narrative that connects to the trees within the local landscape.…”