Adaptation to Climate Change at UK World Heritage Sites: Progress and Challenges

In 2006, a requirement came into effect for World Heritage Site management plans to include an assessment of the possible impact of climate change on the heritage site, and to include mitigation strategies as appropriate. This paper focuses on progress in the UK towards developing and implementing climate-change adaptation policies within these plans. Research undertaken to examine this complex area of work has identified key challenges faced by site managers when including and subsequently implementing climate-change policies. Information was collected through a questionnaire survey of all UK World Heritage Sites, reviews of relevant documents, and in-depth interviews with a wide range of professionals. The study found that plans are gradually being updated to include climate-change considerations, however, this is not always straightforward and plan implementation is proving challenging. Concerns about data reliability and the contested nature of scientific data on climate change are widespread, and there is a perceived lack of the necessary information to make fully informed decisions. Resource constraints, a need for more specialist skills and guidance, and differing levels of interest and motivation in the issue are other challenges.