World Heritage Sites Reeling from Climate Change

The number of World Heritage sites being negatively impacted by climate change has nearly doubled in a mere three years.

A new report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature-the official advisory body on nature for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee-says the locations around the globe threatened by global warming has risen from 35 to 62 since the last study was completed.

The IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2-an update from a report issued in 2014-offers an assessment for the first time of the changes in the conservation prospects for all 241 natural World Heritage sites: iconic places such as The Great Barrier Reef and the Florida Everglades.

According to the new study, climate change impacts ranging from coral bleaching to glacier loss are now being seen at one-quarter of all sites, compared to one in seven sites three years ago.

Coral reefs and glaciers, in particular, are among the most threatened of all ecosystems on the planet, states the report. But many others are also suffering, including wetlands and low-lying deltas.

In addition, the report warns that the number of World Heritage sites affected by global warming is likely to grow, as the planet's warming temperatures remain the biggest potential threat to their future.

"Protection of World Heritage sites is an international responsibility of the same governments that have signed up to the Paris Agreement," Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General said in a statement. "This IUCN report sends a clear message: Climate change acts fast and is not sparing the finest treasures of our planet. The scale and the pace at which it is damaging our natural heritage underline the need for urgent and ambitious national commitments and actions to implement the Paris Agreement."

Coral reefs around the planet have suffered devastating mass coral bleaching events over the past three years due to rising sea temperatures. Those particularly impacted include the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean (the world's second-largest coral atoll); the Belize Barrier Reef in the Atlantic; and the Great Barrier Reef, which is the biggest reef on Earth.

Retreating glaciers meanwhile affect such iconic places as Kilimanjaro National Park and the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch-home to the largest Alpine glacier.

"The I.U.C.N. report describes the troubling reality faced by so many sites, whether as a result of poaching, unsustainable tourism or conflict. These challenges on the ground are only likely to increase and are indeed set to be further compounded by climate change," The Prince of Wales, a well-known advocate for the environment, said in the report.

"This report demonstrates that climate change is an actual fact and becoming regarded as the fastest growing threat, its impacts already visible in many of the sites."

The report assigns each of the World Heritage sites to one of four categories of concern: critical; significant concern; good with some concerns; and good.

Overall, the report finds that 29 percent of World Heritage sites face significant concerns and 7 percent-including the Everglades National Park in the U.S. and Lake Turkana in Kenya-have a critical outlook. Two-thirds of the sites are assessed as likely to be well conserved in the near future.

As the report points out, the continued damaged being done to World Heritage sites has broad ramifications beyond just loss of beauty.

"In Peru's Huascarán National Park, for example, melting glaciers affect water supplies and contaminate water and soil due to the release of heavy metals previously trapped under ice," said Tim Badman, Director of the IUCN's World Heritage Program. "This adds to the urgency of our challenge to protect these places."

Nearly every country in the world has endorsed the World Heritage Convention, aimed at preserving the world's most exceptional places from one generation to the next.

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