Heritage on the Edge: Can culture survive the climate crisis?

CLIMATE change is not only a scientific crisis but a cultural one. Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) — the living traditions of communities, including oral expressions, rituals, knowledge systems, and craftsmanship — offers vital insights into sustainable adaptation.

As Philip McDermott and Mairead Nic Craith note: ICH is as much about the present and future as it is about the past. In times of planetary crisis, it can contribute meaningfully to resilience and response.

Global debates on ICH have evolved alongside growing awareness of environmental collapse. While the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established in 1992, prioritised reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it largely overlooked climate change’s impact on cultural diversity.

Rising temperatures, droughts, floods, and erosion have displaced communities, disrupted livelihoods, and weakened the transmission of cultural practices. Warmer climates have also altered ecosystems, affecting species that play roles in traditional knowledge and rituals.

These shifts threaten both tangible and intangible heritage. The World Heritage Centre has responded by developing a practical guide to help managers of natural World Heritage sites assess climate risks to their Outstanding Universal Value. Tested in Kenya and India, the guide uses a step-by-step approach with worksheets and case studies to support adaptive planning. Its aim is clear: build resilience to sustain heritage value in a changing climate.

Cultural heritage encompasses both tangible elements — monuments, buildings, archaeological sites — and intangible practices like dance, storytelling, and traditional ecological knowledge. Together, they shape identity, preserve history, and support well-being. Yet both forms are increasingly vulnerable.

Environmental change, accelerated by human activity, now occurs at unprecedented rates. While some shifts may enhance heritage values, many accelerate loss. Since the 1990s, research has increasingly linked climate change to heritage degradation.

Recent initiatives reflect this urgency: the Climate Heritage Network (2018) unites over 200 organisations committed to climate action; the American Institute for Conservation launched a podcast on conserving heritage in a warming world; and ICOMOS dedicated its 2023 Scientific Symposium to Living Heritage and Climate Change. These efforts demand an up-to-date, interdisciplinary understanding of the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of heritage and climate.

Despite growing awareness, legal frameworks remain fragmented. Alessandro Chechi observes that cultural heritage law and climate change law barely intersect. Most policy attention focuses on physical damage to monuments, yet intangible heritage is equally at risk. Climate-induced displacement severs generations-long ties to land, disrupting rituals, languages, and traditional knowledge.

Indigenous Peoples, whose identities are deeply rooted in place and nature, are disproportionately affected. Sea-level rise, for example, threatens World Heritage Sites such as the Tower of London, the Palace of Westminster, and Maritime Greenwich.

Projections suggest a rise of 0.26 to 0.86 metres in the Thames Estuary by 2080. Extreme weather also impacts cultural landscapes economically — Mesa Verde National Park in the US, which draws 500 000 visitors annually and contributes $47 million (R832m) to the local economy, faces declining visitation due to climate stressors.

According to the IPCC, adaptation involves adjusting to actual or expected climate impacts to reduce harm and seize opportunities. Cities worldwide are strengthening adaptation through policy, especially in areas facing water scarcity and population growth. Subnational governments play a crucial role, as local decisions often determine the success of adaptation strategies.

Heritage sites are particularly vulnerable to climate risks like heavy rainfall and landslides. Understanding these impacts is essential for effective policy and cost-efficient conservation. An interdisciplinary approach — integrating climate science, ecology, and social systems — is vital. Delaying action narrows future options. While wealthier nations can mobilise more resources for adaptation, equitable support is needed globally.

UNESCO has long championed heritage protection. The 1972 World Heritage Convention initially focused on tangible heritage. This gap was addressed in 2003 with the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH Convention), which defines ICH as practices, knowledge, skills, and associated cultural spaces recognised by communities as part of their heritage.

The ICH Convention recognises the deep interdependence between tangible and intangible heritage — such as hunting traditions tied to specific ecosystems. Climate damage to land can thus erode both physical sites and the cultural practices linked to them.

UNESCO first acknowledged climate threats to World Heritage in 2005, when petitions called for three sites to be listed as endangered due to climate change. In 2007, the World Heritage Committee adopted a policy document on climate impacts — updated in 2021 as the Draft Policy Document on Climate Action for World Heritage. This shift in title reflects a broader vision: from reactive protection to proactive climate engagement, including intangible heritage.

Still, progress on ICH remains limited. The updated policy addresses it only minimally. Article 4 of the World Heritage Convention obliges States to protect heritage using available resources, implying a duty to adapt through flood defences, energy efficiency, or other measures. Article 5 reinforces this by requiring active protection, integration into planning, research, legal frameworks, and training.

Indigenous knowledge is a critical yet underutilised resource. Communities in marginal environments have long adapted to climatic variability, developing sustainable land and water management practices. These traditions — part of ICH — are repositories of resilience.

Unesco’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (Links) programme promotes the inclusion of such knowledge in global climate science and policy. ICOMOS notes that current IPCC reports underrepresent cultural dimensions, despite the value of accumulated experience in shaping adaptation and mitigation pathways. Safeguarding Indigenous heritage and including Indigenous voices in climate decision-making is not only just — it is essential.

In 2019, Unesco adopted Operational Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Emergencies, enabling responses to climate-related crises. This provides a framework, though implementation remains uneven.

The intersection of heritage and climate change demands collaboration beyond institutional and regional silos. Much existing research is methodologically narrow and lacks specificity, limiting its practical application. To inform effective policy, studies must engage with concrete environmental drivers and timeframes.

As Kathryn Lafrenz Samuels and Ellen J. Platts observe, the World Heritage Convention was born from crises—flooding in Nubia and Venice. Today, rising seas and extreme weather threaten heritage globally. This cyclical history calls for new narratives: ones that embrace heritage not just as a relic, but as a catalyst for social and environmental transformation.

Heritage sites can foster emotional connection, build trust, and model climate action. They can help communities process loss and imagine resilient futures. In doing so, they remind us of our responsibility — not just to preserve the past, but to be good ancestors for generations to come.

* Dr Vusi Shongwe works in the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture in KwaZulu-Natal and writes in his personal capacity.

** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media.

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