ABSTRACT
Major international heritage organisations dedicated to conserving the world’s sites and monuments have initiated studies and established guidelines to advocate for climate change adaptation for built heritage. The World Heritage Convention has been reviewed and adjusted by UNESCO in regard to nominations, periodic reporting and reactive monitoring, to address the impacts of climate change on natural World Heritage and cultural properties (UNESCO 2006). These developments were prompted because of the awareness ‘that the impacts of Climate Change are affecting many and are likely to affect many more World Heritage properties, both natural and cultural in the years to come’(UNESCO 2006). Such projects include NOAH’s Ark in the EU, which focuses on the impact of climate change on built heritage and cultural landscapes (Sabbioni et al. 2010). Australia has also undertaken preliminary assessment on the implications of climate change on World Heritage properties (ANU 2009), and in the United Kingdom, English Heritage published the first national Buildings at Risk Registers, a listing (designation) mechanism, as early as 1998 (English Heritage 2013). These listings raise awareness of climate change-related effects, including weathered stone, timber erosion and other forms of deterioration, and deliver solutions for buildings at risk.
