Priceless treasures 'at risk'

2006-11-08 11:35

Nairobi - Rising sea levels and ocean temperatures, floods and other calamities linked to global warming threaten hundreds of natural and manmade cultural sites around the world, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

From a renowned coral reef off Belize and ancient Thai ruins, to Baroque concert halls in the Czech Republic and Venice, the effects of climate change are imperilling countless sites revered by millions, it said.

"Some of these priceless treasures are at risk as a result of impacts like rising sea levels, flooding and storms," the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said in a report released on the second day of a UN climate conference here.

"Others, including mosques, cathedrals, monuments and artefacts at ancient sites, are threatened by changes in historic and local climatic conditions," it said, appealing for quick and decisive measures to prevent the damage.

The findings, presented at the 12th conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), show that global warming, which threatens billions of people on the planet, is also endangering culture.

As the meeting entered its second day, Unep head Achim Steiner said efforts must be made to protect at-risk sites from climate change, as well as humans, animals and ecosystems.

"We must also use our intelligence and scientific know-how to assist managers of culturally important sites, like buildings and archaeological finds," he said.

Impact on livelihoods

"Losses here as a result of climate change may impact on the livelihoods of local people and, especially in developing countries, add to poverty which is among the most toxic pollutants on the planet," Steiner said.

"The answer to climate change cannot be to lock things up in museums and zoos," he told reporters at a news conference, where the report The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge, was released.

"We cannot take away from the many for the few," he said.

Among the most affected areas is Belize's barrier reef, described in 1842 by Charles Darwin as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies", which has already suffered coral bleaching as a result of rising water temperatures.

Others include monuments in Alexandria, Egypt, and pre-Inca treasures at the Huascaran National Park in Peru where a temple that dates back to 900 BC is threatened by run-off water from melting Andes mountains glaciers, it said.

In west Africa, a huge collection of important Islamic manuscripts and the 13th century Chinguetti Mosque in which they are housed are the endangered by a combination of environmental factors, including encroaching desert, it said.

Threatened areas also include more modern sites, such as concert halls, theatres, museums and libraries in the Czech Republic, where 500 000 books and archival documents were damaged by European floods in 2002, it said.

- SAPA