How can travel & tourism help save heritage sites from climate change?
Travel & tourism and natural and cultural heritage are often interdependent. So how should tourism respond to worries that climate change threatens heritage sites?
It’s a question posed by Kevin Phun in this “Good Tourism” Insight.
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Can tourism enable and enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation measures? Can tourist activities help increase local communities’ resilience?
Global warming, and the associated sea-level rise, is threatening more and more heritage sites. We should pay attention to how this has an effect on the cultural heritage of communities living near these sites.
After a few decades of talking about sustainable tourism, we are now seeing mention of regenerative travel, seen by some as ‘sustainable tourism 2.0’.
It is time the tourism industry started thinking more seriously about the role tourism should (not just can) play in enabling the preservation of culture and heritage in places threatened by climate change.
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Global warming threatens heritage sites
Heritage sites, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites, are increasingly seeing the effects of rising sea levels and other symptoms of global warming. Many of the world’s precious cultural and natural heritage sites are facing damage and destruction.
In the Mediterranean region there are numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites in low-lying coastal areas — such as the Venetian lagoon, the old city of Dubrovnik, and the ruins of Carthage — that are feeling the effects of climate change; storm surges and coastal erosion due to sea-level rise.
The statues at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the south Pacific Ocean are also facing coastal erosion from rising sea levels.
In Egypt, warmer temperatures have resulted in cracks appearing on the facades of many ancient temples and graves, and also changes in the colour of their stones.
Yellowstone National Park in the US has been experiencing shorter winters with less snowfall, warmer rivers, shrinking lakes and wetlands, and longer fire seasons.
According to UNESCO, climate change has become one of the most significant threats to World Heritage Sites, including to their integrity and authenticity.
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Why should tourism be concerned about losing heritage sites?
Many heritage sites have communities living around or near them, which means that … continue reading this “Good Tourism” Insight in full and for free at The “Good Tourism Blog”.
