UNESCO - Experts to consider measures to counter effects of climate change on natural and cultural world heritage sites

Experts to consider measures to counter effects of climate change on natural and cultural world heritage sites

Editorial Contact:	Djibril Kébé, Press Relations Section, tel. +33 (0)1 45 68 17 41 - Email
Audiovisual Contact:	Carole Darmouni, Audiovisual Section, tel. +33 (0)1 45 68 17 38 - Email

13-03-2006 2:00 pm Global warming is threatening numerous World Heritage sites, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Sagarmatha National Park (Mount Everest in Nepal), the Tower of London and Timbuktu (Mali). Experts will meet at UNESCO Headquarters on 16 and 17 March to review the risks to WH sites from climate change and propose appropriate management responses. The experts’ recommendations will be submitted to the World Heritage Committee, which will decide what measures to adopt during its next annual meeting in Vilnius (Lithuania), 8 to 16 July. The independent 21-member World Heritage Committee inscribes sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage list and oversees the implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Its members represent the 181 States Parties to the Convention.

Most natural ecosystems and heritage sites, both on land and in the sea, are at risk of being affected by climate change. They include: glaciers, coral reefs, mangroves, boreal and tropical forests, polar and alpine ecosystems, wetlands and grasslands. Examples of some sites so affected include the Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek (USA and Canada), the Sagarmatha National Park (Nepal), Huascarán National Park (Peru), Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Ilulissat Icefjord (Denmark), the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) and the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System (Belize), Waterton Glacier International Peace Park (U.S.A. and Canada).

Cultural sites are also in danger because of climate change. Rising sea levels are threatening coastal sites, such as those of Venice and the four World Heritage sites of London. Desertification is threatening sites such as the Great Mosques of Timbuktu, while rainfall and temperature changes can cause structural collapse, a threat faced by the Prehistoric Megalithic Temples of Haġar Qim in Malta, for example. Furthermore, population movements due to climate change are expected to lead to the abandonment of some sites while placing others under stress.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has organized the meeting in co-operation with the government of the United Kingdom, which is financing the event, the advisory bodies of the World Heritage Committee, ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN, and with support from the United Nations Foundation. The participants come from all parts of the globe and include experts from UNESCO and other International organizations, notably those in charge of the international conventions concerning the environment and heritage, and those acting as advisory organizations to the World Heritage Committee, as well as other non-governmental organizations active in the field of climate change.

Source	Media Advisory N°2006-16
Author(s)	UNESCOPRESS