In November 2019, floods endangered historical treasures and buildings. Earlier this year, the city suffered from an opposite problem when severe drought made it impossible for the gondolas to pass through some of the city’s canals. Italian authorities have taken some steps to protect Venice’s treasures, such as installing temporary barriers to protect the Saint Mark’s Basilica and nearby buildings from sea level rise. But UNESCO says Italian authorities haven’t done enough to address these issues [1].

In the last decades, we have experienced extreme weather events such as abnormal fires and super impactful floods. Cataclysmic weather occurs with greater intensity and frequency from warmer temperatures brought on by the burning of fossil fuels. So, when climate change-related disasters happen, it’s not just physical places that are lost, but also people’s connection to those places [1].

The combined effects of human-induced and natural changes, due to sea level rise, extreme weather events and other Climate Change induced phenomena, are causing deterioration and damage to build structures and urban areas and threaten the integrity of the cultural, environmental and landscape attributes and values of many cultural properties. Many of these issues, which individually represent threats to the Outstanding Universal Value (the basis for any nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list) of the cultural properties, but which also have a cumulative adverse impact, remain unresolved or only temporarily addressed [1].

Restoring healthy waterways and forests helps to manage the impacts of climate change. Yet fires and floods keep coming, whether the land is protected or not. And cultural heritage in all its forms is perpetually at risk. Communities living near these places face tough decisions about what parts of their cultural heritage to hold on to and how to get prepare for future climate change-related events. In any case, authorities need to engage residents in the decision-making process to learn what cultural heritage is most valued [1].

The List of World Heritage in Danger of UNESCO

Several cultural heritage properties have been subject to problems caused by their environment over the last decade, including for example, the Royal Palaces of Abomey (Benin, Africa), which was damaged by a tornado and was on the In-Danger List of UNESCO from 1985 to 2007, and Timbuktu (Mali, Africa), which faced the threat of sand encroachment, and was on the In-Danger List from 1990 to 2005. There are other types of problems related to changes in the environment. For example, the Wieliczka Salt Mines (Poland, Europe) were affected by water infiltration, which threatened to damage the salt statues that had been carved by the miners over centuries. With the assistance of the World Heritage Fund, it was possible to find corrective measures and mitigate the risk. The site was on the In-Danger List from 1989 to 1998 (ICOMOS World Heritage in Danger, Compendium II, 2009).

The List of World Heritage in Danger UNESCO is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List and to encourage corrective action. The list includes only such property forming part of the cultural and natural heritage as is threatened by serious and specific dangers, such as the threat of disappearance caused by accelerated deterioration, large-scale public or private projects or rapid urban or tourist development projects, destruction caused by changes in the use or ownership of the land, major alterations due to unknown causes, abandonment for any reason whatsoever, the outbreak or the threat of an armed conflict, calamities and cataclysms, serious fires, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, changes in water level, floods and tidal waves [2].

The 56 properties (September 2023) that the World Heritage Committee has decided to include on the List of World Heritage in danger following Article 11 (4) of the Convention [3].

Nowadays, Climate Change has become the fastest-growing threat to World Heritage. The impacts of Climate Change are everywhere, and advisory bodies and organizations estimate that one in four sites on the World Heritage List is already being impacted. It is also crucial that a Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) for World Heritage properties has been proposed. If adopted by the World Heritage Committee, it has the potential to influence responses to Climate Change at the World’s most important natural and cultural heritage sites [4].

Venice may be put on the endangered list.

[1] https://www.wqln.org/culture/2023-09-12/venice-may-be-put-on-the-endangered-list-thanks-to-human-created-climate-change

[2] https://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/#Article11.4

[3] https://whc.unesco.org/en/danger/

[4] https://blog.ucsusa.org/adam-markham/climate-change-is-the-fastest-growing-threat-to-world-heritage/

International initiatives to protect cultural heritage in Ukraine are numerous, and many actors are involved with overlapping mandates. These initiatives focus on monitoring damages, emergency relief measures, training of heritage professionals, digitization of inventories and archives, support of the cultural sector and awareness raising [2]. UNESCO published a statement calling for the protection of cultural heritage, with specific emphasis on World Heritage Sites, and condemning any attacks against cultural property. The statement by ICOMOS reiterated the fragility of cultural heritage and the responsibility of care concerning the relevant international conventions. The Red List of Cultural Objects at Risk in Ukraine was issued by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 2022 summer to present those types of objects such as manuscripts, icons, religious artefacts, and jewellery, in total more than 50 object types, that are the most likely to be looted and sold on the international art market [3]. 

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribed the Historic Centre of Odesa (Ukraine) on the World Heritage List in January 2023 as the 8th World Heritage Site of Ukraine, despite the opposition of Russia. Part of the site was immediately added to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The listing is not just a symbolic act though. UNESCO implemented emergency measures such as repairing damage to the museum buildings to protect the collections and digitization of artworks and archival materials. This is just a part of UNESCO activities in Ukraine: in partnership with local authorities and non-governmental organizations, they monitor damage and loss in terms of heritage assets, the impact of war on the cultural sector, support artists, and so on [3].  

Within this context, various solutions were proposed by the international community: 

(1) States should have measures in place before a conflict breaks out. 

(2) Cultural heritage protection should be integrated into the international system for humanitarian aid and peacekeeping. 

(3) Independent monitoring of the impact of armed conflicts on cultural heritage would enhance accountability for war crimes, as well as post-conflict peacebuilding efforts [2]. 

The debate unfortunately remains relevant. When national and cultural infrastructure is attacked, people become afraid and risk losing their sense of existing as a group or nation. Social resources are part of the cultural heritage that is threatened in war: the structures of society, contact with neighbours and the things that give people context. Moreover, protecting cultural heritage is important for the possibility of peace-building and reconciliation after a violent conflict. Evidence of the pre-war period is needed to learn from the past and to reflect on what has happened. If everything is torn down, there are no references any more. This is why cultural heritage also plays a major role in reconstruction processes [1]. 

[1] https://www.gu.se/en/research/the-power-of-cultural-heritage-in-war-and-peace 

[2] https://research4committees.blog/2023/03/21/publication-protecting-cultural-heritage-from-armed-conflicts-in-ukraine-and-beyond/ 

[3] https://revdem.ceu.edu/2023/03/28/heritage-in-war-a-key-to-define-the-future-of-ukraine/