Cultural Heritage Is a Necessary Component of Climate Solutions

The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve on the western coast of Alaska contains one of the highest concentrations of archaeological artifacts in North America. The preserve tells the story of the first humans to inhabit North America dating back as far as 15,000 years ago. However, warming temperatures, thawing permafrost, and rising sea levels are damaging the site and washing away the heritage and artifacts it contains. Without increased documentation and archaeological attention, the history held in the preserve and in other historic sites on the Alaskan coast is at risk of being lost forever.

Coastal Alaskan cultural heritage sites are not unique in their vulnerability to climate impacts. As communities face the impacts of climate change, meaningful and valuable cultural heritage sites and traditions are also at risk. A 2017 study of archaeological sites in the southeastern United States found that an estimated 13,000 sites in the region are at risk of being lost or damaged with three feet of sea level rise, and a 2007 UNESCO Climate Change and World Heritage report identified 125 World Heritage sites that are currently threatened by climate change. The impacts of climate change on history and culture, while are often underrepresented in climate policy and research, must be addressed in order to ensure the preservation of heritage and tradition.

Historic Sites, Modern Risks

The Fourth National Climate Assessment projected that global sea level rise will range from 1-4 feet by 2100, and that global increases of 8 feet or higher “cannot be ruled out.” This puts thousands of sites with cultural, historic, and archaeological value at risk of being damaged or lost altogether, including archaeological sites that have not yet been discovered. Heritage sites encompass places and collections designated as historically or culturally important by national or international bodies, as well as archaeological sites with artifacts important to understanding history and culture. These sites are facing a litany of climate impacts, including the loss of sensitive archaeological evidence due to changing soil conditions, damage to historic buildings from groundwater and saltwater intrusion, damage to organic building material from pest migration, and structural damage from storms and flooding. Beyond physical damage, cultural heritage will also be affected by the social impacts of climate change, including communities “possibly migrating and abandoning their built heritage.”

Historic knowledge can provide guidance for adapting to a changing environment, and heritage sites can serve as opportunities for building resilience to climate change. According to a report on cultural heritage and climate action from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), leaving out cultural heritage and holders of traditional knowledge from climate mitigation and adaptation planning is a lost opportunity. Heritage sites can serve as opportunities for climate communication and education, and research on historic sites and practices to understand past responses to changing climate conditions can help adaptation and mitigation planners develop strategies that integrate natural science and cultural heritage.

For example, coastal and river communities such as the island of Majuli in India have been living with and adapting to changing water levels for centuries. Studying historic modes of adaptation, such as the Majuli Islanders’ use of portable building techniques to help move monasteries in response to annual flooding, can inform modern attempts to build resilient and sustainable societies.

Preserving heritage sites is also important for maintaining traditions, historical knowledge, and identity. Loss of cultural heritage can hinder communities’ ability to recover from disasters by weakening cultural practices and social safety nets.

Finally, cultural heritage and history may serve as a starting point for climate policy.

“We know the science; we can measure what’s happening. The thing we’re lacking is the social and political will. It’s not the scientific element we’re lacking, it’s the human element,” said Marcy Rockman, a scientific coordinator for ICOMOS's Climate Change and Heritage Working Group. “Maybe we can’t get that social and political will without cultural heritage.”

To illustrate this point, Rockman, who spoke at an EESI briefing, Cultural Heritage and Climate Change, used the example of the SCAPE Trust, a citizen science project in Scotland that encourages communities to think about how their vulnerable cultural sites influence who they are and why the coast is important to them. Beginning from a place of meaning rather than a place of fear led to hopeful and creative conversations built from a shared sense of identity. It is this sense of history, place, and meaning that is at risk of being lost if culture and heritage are absent from climate planning and policy.

The State of Preservation

Currently, historic sites in the United States are under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS), which maintains the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register, authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, is the list of over 95,000 sites in the United States that have been designated as “worthy of preservation.” Registered sites are eligible for federal preservation tax credits and grant programs administered by the NPS. The National Trust