ABSTRACT
The scope of this chapter is, first of all, to discuss the different causes of natural hazards, including the recently worsening problems caused by global climate change. Secondly, the chapter deals with the evolution of international recommendations concerning the reduction of risks to heritage resources, and thirdly the mitigation and eventual adaptation of heritage in view of continuing hazards. While disaster risk mitigation involves taking proactive measures to prevent or minimise the potential impacts on heritage sites due to catastrophic hazards that can create disasters, such measures should also include policies and guidelines, planning, and technical measures at structural, non-structural, and material levels. While we focus on risks, it is also important to look at resilience mechanisms that can enable heritage to survive, creating a symbiotic relationship between risk and resilience. The mechanisms of resilience have not only enabled societies to bounce back after disasters and conflicts but have also enabled them to bounce forward by reducing the inherent vulnerabilities that created a crisis in the first place.
