Tradition

• We developed a climate change “toolkit” for World Heritage properties with site managers and Traditional Owners.
• To our knowledge, it is the first time such guidance has been co-developed and tested with World Heritage property managers and Indigenous experts in this country.
• Bringing climate science and Indigenous knowledge systems together promises to produce better results for heritage protection as the climate changes.

Mounting climate threats to heritage

Our new research explored climate impacts at three very different sites:

• Tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and plateaus provide habitat for many rare or endemic plants and animals.
• The region is also experiencing more extreme temperatures and heatwaves, changing fire regimes, more intense cyclones, and increasingly intense extreme rainfall events.
• Hot and dry conditions are causing erosion of topsoil, increasingly exposing Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Read more:
Climate change must be a catalyst for reform of the World Heritage system

Tapping into deep knowledge

• An Indigenous Reference Group of Traditional Owners from a number of World Heritage sites in Australia contributed their expert knowledge.
• Effectively addressing climate impacts on World Heritage values requires the deep knowledge, values and worldviews of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
• Tapping into this deep understanding of connections between nature and culture can help support the management of spiritual, living landscapes.

Adapting to climate change

• World Heritage site managers can take a broad range of practical actions to adapt to climate change.
• In cases where climate change is likely to lead to changes in the values of a site, there may be a need to reevaluate management objectives and strategies (such as accommodating new groups of organisms or “ecological communities”, letting some populations decline, and managed retreat of shorelines).
• In some cases, managers may aim to retain certain values across a wider landscape while accepting local change.

Read more:
Climate adaptation projects sometimes exacerbate the problems they try to solve – a new tool hopes to correct that

Looking ahead

• They can focus on the parts most useful to them, depending on their capacity and needs.
• Ultimately, this resource will help protect Australia’s cultural and natural heritage.

• Jess Melbourne-Thomas received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
• Brenda Lin received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
• Mandy Hopkins received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.