Conservation of World Heritage glacial landscapes in a changing climate: The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch case

Bussard, Jonathan; Reynard, Emmanuel

doi:10.1016/j.ijgeop.2023.06.003

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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Section: Geosites and Ongoing Climate Changementioning

confidence: 97%

“…The landform record of environmental change in European high mountains since the end of the Little Ice Age (c. end of the 19th century) is an exception, appearing in focus in some Alpine countries [56,93,94]. The recent study about the retreat of the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland [95] is a pioneering work which is likely to inspire similar studies elsewhere. The locality today is mainly appreciated for the glacier itself and its dynamics, but its ongoing retreat will likely shift attention to inherited glacial landforms (moraines), which will become the main resource to develop interpretation focused on rapid climate change and its effects.…”

Section: Geosites and Ongoing Climate Changementioning

confidence: 97%

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Geosites and Climate Change—A Review and Conceptual Framework

Migoń

2024

Geosciences

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Geosites are windows into the geological past, which may be recorded in rocks and their properties, the fossil content, and landform produced by processes no longer operating. Since the histories of sedimentation, life, and landscape evolution are to a certain extent controlled by climatic conditions, some geosites may be used as illustrations of various themes linked to the issue of climate change. In this paper, a coherent systematic framework is proposed for how to look at geosites through the lens of climate change. Four major aspects of relevance are recognized: (i) geosites providing evidence of changing climatic conditions in the past; (ii) geosites providing evidence of an environment different than that of today at the place; (iii) geosites providing evidence of extreme weather events; and (iv) dynamic geosites, subject to change as a response to ongoing climate change. The use of geosites to raise awareness and educate the public about climate change faces various interpretation challenges. In particular, linking with ongoing climate change requires caution and balanced presentation as most geosites record changes which occurred without any anthropogenic component. The preferred focus should be on environmental instability in general rather than on any specific reasons for change.

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Section: Geosites and Ongoing Climate Changementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Geosites and Ongoing Climate Changementioning

confidence: 97%

Geosites and Climate Change—A Review and Conceptual Framework

Migoń

2024

Geosciences

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“…• making changes to visitor access to mitigate hazards, adapting trails or developing new trails or itineraries, adding new infrastructure such as bridges, adding security equipment, closing some viewpoints, and changing or relocating some activities [97,100,117] changing the focus of glacier tourism from landscape appreciation to understanding landscape evolution [161].…”

Section: Adaptation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Change and Geotourism: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Gordon

2023

Tourism and Hospitality

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Climate change and rising sea levels present significant challenges for geotourism destinations and activities. Accelerated changes in geomorphological processes threaten or diminish both the physical existence and aesthetic qualities of geoheritage assets, and hence the visitor experience, as well as presenting increased or new risks from natural hazards. This is particularly a concern in mountain and coastal areas, and also where greater extremes of temperature and precipitation affect visitor comfort. A literature review was conducted to assess the extent to which the consequences of climate change have been recognised in geotourism research. With the exception of glacier-based geotourism, few studies have considered the impacts of climate change and reported the planning or development of adaptation measures. However, the didactic potential of geotourism in raising awareness of climate change has been commonly recognised. A review of the wider tourism literature identified additional destination-supply and visitor-demand issues that will affect the sustainability of geotourism in the face of climate change. These include changes in visitor motivations, travel behaviour, perceptions of destination image, and reactions to local, national, and international mitigation and adaptation responses, as well as geoethical considerations around carbon footprints and sustainable modes of travel. Situating geotourism within a broader body of multidisciplinary tourism research should help inform adaptation strategies in conjunction with measures to adapt to the physical impacts of climate change on geotourism sites.

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Conservation of World Heritage glacial landscapes in a changing climate: The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch case

Cited by 2 publications

References 68 publications

Geosites and Climate Change—A Review and Conceptual Framework

Geosites and Climate Change—A Review and Conceptual Framework

Climate Change and Geotourism: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities

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