Adaptive Heritage: Inclusive, Climate Sensitive Futures for Landscapes Containing Internationally-Designated Protected Areas

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 16463

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota System, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Interests: climate change adaptation; ecosystem management; world heritage; watershed management; decision making
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Special Issue Information

Heritage is what we leave for future generations. Internationally designated heritage areas (i.e., World Heritage, RAMSAR, MAB sites) are the best of the best, the very few locations deserving of conservation in perpetuity. These rare valuable landscapes represent <2% of the world’s >130,000 protected areas, and each faces biophysical and social risk from climate change and human incursion. Heritage conservation is often approached at a relatively fine temporal and spatial scale. Management decisions are guided by efficiency, resulting in a narrow stakeholder base.

Authors are invited to contribute to this Special Issue to advance the management of internationally designated heritage areas. The intended contributions of this Special Issue are: a) an increased consideration of heritage at the landscape scale, b) advancing adaptive, climate-sensitive approaches to management and c) empowering an inclusive approach that effectively engages marginalized and under-represented groups.

Prof. Dr. Jim Perry
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • heritage
  • internationally designated protected areas
  • World Heritage
  • RAMSAR
  • MAB
  • protected area management
  • adaptive management
  • decision making
  • conservation
  • climate change
  • inclusivity

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2195 KiB  
Article
Adaptive Thinking in Cities: Urban Continuity within Built Environments
by Hana Morel and Brenda Denise Dorpalen
Climate 2023, 11(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11030054 - 26 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3102
Abstract
Adaptive reuse of built heritage is increasingly critical for reasons of sustainability, particularly in urban spaces. With increasing pressures for building and housing, the building and construction industry will likely continue to contribute 39% of all carbon emissions in the world, with operational [...] Read more.
Adaptive reuse of built heritage is increasingly critical for reasons of sustainability, particularly in urban spaces. With increasing pressures for building and housing, the building and construction industry will likely continue to contribute 39% of all carbon emissions in the world, with operational emissions accounting for 28%. Further demolition, urban renewal and rebuilding not only obstruct pathways to decarbonisation but create shocks that disrupt and displace communities. We argue that it is essential to support built heritage beyond conventional urban renewal approaches and to position it as a critical community-based asset that can leverage local knowledge and promote a sustainable and more circular economy. However, such an agenda must acknowledge the challenges of adopting new innovative practices that can reduce strain on current material and social resources. This paper situates adaptive reuse as critical in strategies to reuse existing building stock and other broader sustainability movements, framing it from an economic angle. A case study approach explores adaptive reuse interventions and how these might be extended to other areas. Full article
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16 pages, 799 KiB  
Article
Upscaling Local Adaptive Heritage Practices to Internationally Designated Heritage Sites
by Sarah Kerr and Felix Riede
Climate 2022, 10(7), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli10070102 - 5 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2900
Abstract
World Heritage Sites can face an onslaught of risks from high tourist numbers, climate changes, the impacts of conflict and war, and static management practices. These sites have been ascribed a value that is considered both outstanding and universal (OUV) and as such [...] Read more.
World Heritage Sites can face an onslaught of risks from high tourist numbers, climate changes, the impacts of conflict and war, and static management practices. These sites have been ascribed a value that is considered both outstanding and universal (OUV) and as such they are placed at a higher prioritisation than all other heritage sites. The aim of this listing is to ensure their protection for future generations. Yet, the management practices enacted under this preservation mandate can be reactive rather than proactive and reflective, overly concerned with maintaining the status quo, and restricted by a complexity of national and international regulations and stakeholders. We here introduce a local-scale, community-driven heritage project, called CHICC, that offers, we argue, a useful insight into management practices that may be upscaled to internationally designated sites. Although this is not a blueprint to fit all heritage needs, some of the fundamental intentions embedded within CHICC can and perhaps should be adopted in the approaches to internationally designated site management. These include inclusivity with the local community as a priority stakeholder, a deeper understanding of the site including its future risks, consideration of the wider heritage landscape, and greater incorporation of heritage dynamism. Through analysing and evaluating the case study project, this conceptual chapter argues that adaptive heritage practices are underway in some local-scale contexts, and this can be a useful template for advancing the management of World Heritage Sites. Full article
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20 pages, 3597 KiB  
Article
Challenges of Managing Maritime Cultural Heritage in Asia in the Face of Climate Change
by Patrick Daly, R. Michael Feener, Noboru Ishikawa, Ibrahim Mujah, Maida Irawani, Alexandru Hegyi, Krisztina Baranyai, Jedrzej Majewski and Benjamin Horton
Climate 2022, 10(6), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli10060079 - 25 May 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5402
Abstract
Changing weather patterns, increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards, and rising sea levels associated with global climate change have the potential to threaten cultural heritage sites worldwide. This is especially the case for maritime heritage sites located in the low-lying coastal and [...] Read more.
Changing weather patterns, increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards, and rising sea levels associated with global climate change have the potential to threaten cultural heritage sites worldwide. This is especially the case for maritime heritage sites located in the low-lying coastal and delta regions of Asia. Maritime heritage can reflect both highly localized cultural products based on the coupling of people and maritime environments and the historic footprints of complex maritime networks that connect people, ideas, and material over vast distances, creating unique cultural spheres. Furthermore, maritime heritage sites potentially serve as or contain records of how past societies have been impacted by and adapted to past environmental stress. Therefore, their degradation threatens local/regional/global cultural patrimony as well as evidence of human resilience and fragility in the face of environmental change. This makes a strong case for urgent preservation. However, the possible damage caused by climate change and the scale of vulnerable maritime heritage pose seemingly insurmountable challenges. In this paper, we present the ways in which maritime heritage sites across Asia are vulnerable to environmental stresses, such as changing sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding, and storm surges. Our objective is to draw upon our experience documenting endangered cultural heritage across South and Southeast Asia to illustrate that there are unique conceptual and practical characteristics of maritime heritage that complicate effective management and conservation efforts on the scale required to prevent massive loss by climate change. We conclude by stressing the need to reconceptualize debates about the custody and stewardship of maritime heritage and the urgency of employing a wide range of innovative preservation solutions to ensure maritime patrimony is not lost to the rising tides. Full article
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11 pages, 268 KiB  
Article
Adaptive Heritage: Is This Creative Thinking or Abandoning Our Values?
by Jim Perry and Iain J. Gordon
Climate 2021, 9(8), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9080128 - 11 Aug 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3268
Abstract
Protected areas, such as natural World Heritage sites, RAMSAR wetlands and Biosphere Reserves, are ecosystems within landscapes. Each site meets certain criteria that allow it to qualify as a heritage or protected area. Both climate change and human influence (e.g., incursion, increased tourist [...] Read more.
Protected areas, such as natural World Heritage sites, RAMSAR wetlands and Biosphere Reserves, are ecosystems within landscapes. Each site meets certain criteria that allow it to qualify as a heritage or protected area. Both climate change and human influence (e.g., incursion, increased tourist visitation) are altering biophysical conditions at many such sites. As a result, conditions at many sites are falling outside the criteria for their original designation. The alternatives are to change the criteria, remove protection from the site, change site boundaries such that the larger or smaller landscape meets the criteria, or manage the existing landscape in some way that reduces the threat. This paper argues for adaptive heritage, an approach that explicitly recognizes changing conditions and societal value. We discuss the need to view heritage areas as parts of a larger landscape, and to take an adaptive approach to the management of that landscape. We offer five themes of adaptive heritage: (1) treat sites as living heritage, (2) employ innovative governance, (3) embrace transparency and accountability, (4) invest in monitoring and evaluation, and (5) manage adaptively. We offer the Australian Wet Tropics as an example where aspects of adaptive heritage currently are practiced, highlighting the tools being used. This paper offers guidance supporting decisions about natural heritage in the face of climate change and non-climatic pressures. Rather than delisting or lowering standards, we argue for adaptive approaches. Full article
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