China News Agency, Beijing, April 18th, title: Climate change threatens world heritage and urgently needs all mankind to work together to deal with it
China News Agency reporter Ying Ni
April 18 this year marks the 39th International Day for Monuments and Sites, and this year’s theme is “Heritage and Climate”.
The climate itself is not scary, what is scary is climate change. Whether it is a world natural heritage or a world cultural heritage, it is produced under stable climatic conditions or created by human beings. As a tourist landscape, they can attract a large number of tourists at home and abroad, and play an important role in promoting the economic development of various countries; as a cultural heritage, they are often the culmination of the culture of a region and an era, whether it is the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, or the pyramids of Egypt , Venice, Italy.
However, due to the increasing number of extreme weather events caused by global climate change, many heritage resources around the world are already under major threat. For example, the 44th World Heritage Congress in 2021 had recommended placing the Great Barrier Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger, although the final decision was postponed until the The 45th World Heritage Conference will reconsider, but the fact that the site has suffered huge damage has already been a consensus.
In China, the impact of climate change on World Heritage sites cannot be ignored. Song Xinchao, chairman of the China Association for the Protection of Monuments and Sites and deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, admitted in a signed article that extreme precipitation has often occurred in China in recent years, and the north, which has had little experience in dealing with rain, has also suffered from disasters. In 2021, heavy rainfall in Henan, Shanxi and other places will bring great damage to ancient sites, ancient buildings, and historical towns. Even Dunhuang, known as the “Dry Pole of China”, will experience an extremely rare hail rain phenomenon. How to deal with it properly, we still lack experience to refer to.
There are many reasons for climate change, but the biggest factor at present is the impact and even damage caused by various human activities. When human beings develop tropical rain forests without restraint and discharge industrial waste water to rivers, lakes and seas without restraint, various actions have buried the “cause” of climate change.
According to the report “World Heritage and Tourism under Climate Change” released by UNESCO, climate change such as rising temperatures, melting glaciers and rising sea levels has become one of the most important factors threatening the world heritage. The Acropolis of Athens in Greece was severely damaged by acid rain, the site of the world cultural heritage Terayama charcoal kiln in Kagoshima, Japan was completely washed away by floods, and Venice, Italy, was repeatedly “overwhelmed by water”… Relevant data show that, If global warming is 3 degrees Celsius, 19% of the world’s cultural heritage may be lost due to floods. If you let it go, such evil “fruit” may not be far away.
In fact, the theme of “Heritage and Climate” points out the relationship between cultural heritage and climate change: to inherit civilization, we must respect both history and nature; at the same time, it also calls on countries to further build sustainable heritage protection action goals and systems .
Revering nature, integrating into nature, and adapting to nature are excellent traditions of Chinese civilization. Song Xinchao hopes to promote the common development of China’s climate change response and heritage protection, and provide Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength. (Finish)Return to Sohu, see more
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