scholarly journals Adaptive Heritage: Is This Creative Thinking or Abandoning Our Values?

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Jim Perry ◽  
Iain J. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
The Face ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Natural World Heritage Sites

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.

scholarly journals Adaptive Heritage: Is This Creative Thinking or Abandoning Our Values?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Perry ◽  
Iain J. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
The Face ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Natural World Heritage Sites

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 heritage or protected. 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. We discuss the need to view heritage areas as parts of a larger landscape, and to take an adaptive approach to 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.

scholarly journals Climate Change Adaptation in Natural World Heritage Sites: A Triage Approach

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Perry
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Natural World Heritage Sites

Climate change is a certainty, but the degree and rate of change, as well as impacts of those changes are highly site-specific. Natural World Heritage sites represent a treasure to be managed and sustained for all humankind. Each World Heritage site is so designated on the basis of one or more Outstanding Universal Values. Because climate change impacts are site-specific, adaptation to sustain Universal Values also must be specific. As such, climate change adaptation is a wicked problem, with no clear action strategies available. Further, adaptation resources are limited at every site. Each site management team must decide which adaptations are appropriate investments. A triage approach guides that evaluation. Some impacts will be so large and/or uncertain that the highest probability of adaptation success comes from a series of uncertain actions that reduce investment risk. Others will be small, certain, comfortable and yet have low probable impact on the Universal Value. A triage approach guides the management team toward highest probable return on investment, involving stakeholders from the surrounding landscape, advancing engagement and communication, and increasing transparency and accountability.

scholarly journals Word Heritage Sites as soft tourism destinations – their impacts on international arrivals and tourism receipts

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (45) ◽  
pp. 25-44
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Bacsi ◽  
Éva Tóth
Keyword(s):  
World Heritage ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
General Level ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Tourist Attractions ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Cultural Sites ◽  
Natural World Heritage Sites ◽  
Cultural World

AbstractThe paper deals with the relationship between the presence of world heritage sites in a country and the volume of international tourist arrivals and international tourism receipts. World heritage sites are unique tourist attractions with enhanced attention paid to their protection, preservation and sustainability. The paper analyses whether the needs of sustainability can be harmonised with the requirements of a profitable and successful tourism sector, by statistical analysis of data about world heritage sites and tourism performance, for 129 countries of the world from 2014 to 2017. The results show that both cultural and natural world heritage sites are generally strong attractions for tourists and can contribute to increased arrivals and receipts. Cultural sites were found to have higher impact on arrivals, while natural heritage sites seemed to have more impact on receipts, which suggest, that visitors of natural world heritage sites are usually higher spenders, than tourists visiting cultural sites. Countries widely differ, however, in this respect by their geographical locations. Countries in Europe and Latin-America & the Caribbean region benefit most from cultural world heritage sites, while African, and North American countries experienced the benefits of natural world heritage sites more. The general level of development measured by per capita GNI also mattered for the less developed areas, but not so much for developed regions that possess a suitable level of infrastructure, health and education, and living standards.

scholarly journals Multi-decadal shoreline change in coastal natural world heritage sites – a global assessment

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 104047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salma Sabour ◽  
Sally Brown ◽  
Robert J Nicholls ◽  
Ivan D Haigh ◽  
Arjen P Luijendijk
Keyword(s):  
Global Assessment ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Natural World ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Natural World Heritage Sites
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