Impacts of Climate Change on Cultural Landscapes and Strategies for Adaptation

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, extreme weather and climate events have received increasing attention, as the frequency of disasters with high human casualties has escalated. While the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to climate change has been widely acknowledged at the international and national levels, less climate change responses have been implemented at the local level, particularly in cultural landscapes. As a component of cultural heritage resources, "cultural landscape" refers to a historic site that illustrates the interaction of humans with natural resources and the environment over time. Therefore, cultural landscapes are vulnerable to climate-related risks such as floods, landslides, and drought because of their reliance on the environment. The aim of this Special Issue is to foster discussions about policy recommendations and best management practices for improving cultural landscapes to be more resilient to climate change risks, as well as to introduce novel governance frameworks that encourage local stakeholders to participate in the decision-making and implementation stages.

The Guest Editor welcomes original research papers, case studies, reviews, and viewpoint articles concerning climate change risk reduction in cultural landscapes, including, but not limited to:

• Reviews of existing policies and procedures for protecting historic sites from climate-related risks, such as flooding, landslides, storms, and droughts;
• Strategies for fostering local community involvement in climate adaptation activities in cultural landscapes, such as world heritage sites, historic sites, or rural regions;
• Techniques for assessing the advantages and costs of implementing mitigation and adaptation activities into cultural landscapes.

Suggested references

• Shirvani Dastgerdi, Ahmadreza, Massimo Sargolini, and Ilenia Pierantoni. "Climate change challenges to existing cultural heritage policy". Sustainability 19 (2019): 5227.
• Shirvani Dastgerdi, Ahmadreza, and Reza Kheyroddin. "Policy Recommendations for Integrating Resilience into the Management of Cultural Landscapes". Sustainability 14 (2022): 8500.
• Shirvani Dastgerdi, Ahmadreza et al. "Climate change and sustaining heritage resources: A framework for boosting cultural and natural heritage conservation in Central Italy". Climate 2 (2020): 26.
• Shirvani Dastgerdi, A., Sargolini, M., Allred, S. B., Chatrchyan, A. M., Drescher, M., & DeGeer, C. Climate change risk reduction in cultural landscapes: Insights from Cinque Terre and Waterloo. Land Use Policy 123 (2022): 106359.

Dr. Ahmadreza Shirvani Dastgerdi
Dr. Carlo Pisano
Guest Editors

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• cultural heritage
• cultural landscape
• resilient landscapes
• landscape planning
• climate change