A report released at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 13 October by the National Commissions for UNESCO of Canada and the United Kingdom has found that UNESCO-designated sites in these two countries face a range of threats but that some are common to all sites. All 41 biosphere reserves, World Heritage properties and UNESCO Global Geoparks surveyed in Sites for Sustainable Development report inadequate financial resources and flooding as being of greatest concern.
However, the significance of other threats varies. For biosphere reserves, the other top threats are invasive species and surface water pollution. For UNESCO Global Geoparks and World Heritage sites, the impact of tourism poses a common threat; for geoparks and biosphere reserves, it is forestry and wood production. Geoparks cite storm damage to geological heritage as another key threat, whereas world heritage properties are more concerned about how to reconcile the protection of cultural and natural features that contribute to the properties’ outstanding universal value with new housing and commercial development projects; the rising cost of housing as a corollary of mass tourism also figures prominently on their list of threats.
All UNESCO-designated sites vulnerable to climate change
There are almost 2,000 UNESCO-designated sites around the world, which are home to hundreds of millions of people. This global network covers 10 million km2, equivalent to the size of the USA.
All three types of site are vulnerable to climate change, be it through invasive species or extreme weather events. The challenge resides in how to muster different stakeholder groups, such as local authorities, experts, businesses, non-governmental organizations and indigenous communities to tackle these challenges in a concerted manner.
Graham Worton is Keeper of Geology at Dudley Council in the UK. He explains that the designation of in 2020 has allowed local authorities to reach beyond the local management plan to join forces with other natural and cultural sites in Black Country to manage common threats such as uncontrolled development, pests and diseases. In a first, the new 30-year Black Country Plan for the region’s development includes references to the geopark. ‘Very big agendas are being discussed in forward-thinking, innovative ways’, he says, ‘such as future energy and water supply for the Black Country, zero carbon and climate change. We are beginning to explore how the geopark can be a voice or bridge between the strategic level and local people in delivering those messages and helping with the transition to that greener, happier, more secure future’.
For Mandy Hobkirk, co-ordinator for the on Vancouver Island in Canada, it is invasive species which ‘have become a huge concern and a threat to biodiversity, as they often out-compete native species’. The biosphere reserve is tackling this problem through the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute, with the help of volunteers who remove invasive plants and contribute in other ways.
The institute was established by Vancouver Island University. ‘Establishing the institute in 2014 meant that we could develop a collaborative approach’, explains Hobkirk, ‘connecting the expertise and capacity of students and researchers from the university with the community to help establish and deliver the priorities for the region’. The staff receive guidance and direction from a roundtable of regional representatives from local First Nations (Snaw-naw-as, Qualicum and Snuneymuxw), local and senior levels of government, Vancouver Island University, conservation organizations, the forestry industry, local businesses and an elected community representative.
In the in the UK, the councils in Cornwall identified climate-related threats as being the number one challenge. They then declared a climate emergency to ensure a co-ordinated response. ‘We decided, when it was time to review the management plan, to use the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as our foundation’, explains site coordinator Deborah Boden. The property is considering a programme of research on climate-related issues, the aim being to continue to protect the site from the impact of climate change while also undertaking research and other activities to mitigate the effects of climate change. ‘We have the potential to generate geothermal energy’, remarks Boden ‘and we are one of the few areas in Europe with access to lithium — one of the metals that could be key to a low-carbon future’.
Other sites in the UK are keen to learn from Cornwall’s approach. The question is: what is the best way for one site to share new knowledge and innovative practices with other sites confronting similar challenges, in order to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals?
There is no time to lose. ‘Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – which shared a prize this month for their role in underpinning decision-making on climate and biodiversity with scientific evidence – consider that humanity has a window of just three years to get back on track’, observes Meriem Bouamrane, Chief of Ecology and Biodiversity at UNESCO. ‘For instance, limiting global warming to around 1.5°C would require global greenhouse gas emissions to peak by 2025’.
The first survey of all three types of site
This is the first time that a survey has targeted all three types of UNESCO-designated site. The design of this survey reflects their common features. Biosphere reserves, UNESCO Global Geoparks and World Heritage sites must all have legislative and regulatory measures in place to assure the site’s protection from social, economic and other pressures, for example. All three types of site also work with numerous stakeholder groups and form a bridge from the local to global levels and vice versa.
Some sites cover large areas and/or are home to large populations. For example, the Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark consists of 40 natural and cultural designated sites spanning an area of 256 km2 that is home to more than 1.1 million people. The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve spans 1,200 km2. The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site covers more than 19,000 hectares.
Report could trigger joint approach to monitoring progress
The report makes four main recommendations:
- to improve opportunities for knowledge exchange between UNESCO-designated sites across borders by regularly monitoring the sustainable development challenges they face and making the results available in a searchable global database;
- to develop multidesignation thematic networks of UNESCO designated sites (including across designation types) to allow site managers and stakeholders to collaborate;
- to provide training for UNESCO designated site managers on the collection, analysis, management and sharing of data with their stakeholders; and
- to build the human and financial resource capacities of the management teams of UNESCO-designated sites.
‘This report could trigger joint efforts between different types of UNESCO site to monitor progress in erecting the three pillars of sustainable development (Ed: social, economic and environmental)’, observes Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences at UNESCO. ‘We already support the collection and analysis of scientific data and provide technical support but, in addition, we could establish global thematic networks of biosphere reserves, global geoparks and world heritage sites which face common threats such as glacier melt in mountainous regions, coastal erosion or flooding, to foster evidence-based management of these sites, and, in parallel, train site managers how to use this evidence to mitigate these threats. We could also explore the potential for joint management plans and joint fundraising to support these global networks’.
For Natasha Cayer, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Canada to UNESCO, this report ‘is an example of how National Commissions are uniquely placed to be the principal agents for change to accelerate UNESCO’s response to global challenges’.
‘These World Heritage sites, UNESCO Global Geoparks and biosphere reserves are exceptionally special places’, remarks Laura Davies, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the UK to UNESCO, ‘but places that are also as vulnerable as anywhere else to the threats of climate change and overdevelopment. However, as this report shows, these sites also have all the ingredients communities and stakeholders need to plan together for a sustainable future’.
was written by Tim Carter, Eleanor Haine, Alexander Kent and Matthew Rabagliati over a period of two years.
The study comes just weeks before the 27th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in November, when governments will be meeting in Egypt to renew their commitments to delivering on the Paris Agreement (2015). The following month, world leaders will be meeting in Montreal, Canada, at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to agree on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
