Maps for the climate changing impact on heritage conservation

BONAZZA A., BRIMBLECOMBE P., GROSSI C. M., SABBIONI C.
National Research Council, Bologna, Italy and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

In a world where climate is changing, cultural heritage will be confronted by pressures different from those faced in the past. From a management perspective, the knowledge of the climate parameters damaging in the future and a better understating and prediction of the cause-effect relationship are fundamental prerequisites. The research activity carried out up to now have shown the importance of water as a threat to heritage, despite temperature being so often identified as the key aspect of climate change.

The frequency of intense rainfall is likely to increase in Europe in the future causing damage on materials, such as stone and wood, and causing overloading of roofs, gutters and downpipes. Lower relative humidity will create a greater potential salt weathering in porous stone. Changes in the water cycle will also affect the growth of microorganisms on monuments. Furthermore increased floods and landslides will doubtless bring catastrophic loss.

Maps representing broad regional future threats for the Europe’s cultural heritage will be presented as a potential tool for heritage administrators, cultural economists, public policy-makers and national heritage organizations to make decisions on how to cope with future climate change pressures. The aim is to give a friendly science-based instrument for an immediate visualisation of the European built heritage and cultural landscape under future climate scenarios.