“environmental law and the threats of global climate change to .pptVIP

?“Environmental Law and the Threats of Global Climate Change to Cultural Heritage Sites”? Stefan Gruber Faculty of Law, University of Sydney Cultural heritage sites Culture plays a significant role in the survival of all individual parts of populations as distinguishable elements of humankind Heritage sites remind people of their cultural identities, pasts and traditions Reminders of the human need to adapt to the environment What is considered as valuable and as worthy of being preserved for future generations? Early impacts of climate change First human settlements in the early stages of the Holocene interglacial, 8,000 BC Warm period before Little Ice Age (ca. 1550-1850) Impacts on viniculture and agriculture Deterioration of permafrost Hastened soil erosion Ground starts to slump Land slides Coastal erosion No protection by sea ice Deterioration of permafrost 2 Hastened decay of organic material No protection by ice BUT: the melting of ice sheets sometimes reveals archaeological treasures Sites are exposed to humidity Douglas Mawson’s hut at Cape Denison in the Antarctic Commonwealth Bay, 1911 and 1914 Scott’s hut, Cape Evans, Antarctica; 1 kilometre away from the Barne Glacier and its fifty metres high terminal wall of ice Desertification UNCCD, Art. 1(a): “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities” Removal of a protective cover from fertile soil in dry zones Sand dunes stabilised by vegetation Increasing number of windstorms Irreversible process Desertification 2 Sand encroachments Grinding effects of sandstorms Sites are deserted by local population Ocean rise and floods 85 % of Earth’s freshwater is frozen at the polar caps 70% of the world population live in coastal areas Coastal erosion Floods in river deltas Threat to groundwater, e.g. island communities in Southern Pacific region Increasing number of heavy storms Cultural landscapes Often very fr