Cultural Landscape Approaches and Climate Change Policy

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 August 2021) | Viewed by 10496

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences & Global Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Interests: climate change adaptation; climate change policy and governance; climate-smart agriculture; cultural landscapes
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Guest Editor
Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Architecture, Florence, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Interests: landscape planning and climate change; cultural landscapes; conservation policy; sustainable heritage
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Guest Editor
Departament of Vegetal Production and Engineering Projects, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: crop production; climate change; sustainability; environment
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,


Cultural landscapes are the result of interactions between human beings and natural resources, according to the European Landscape Convention. Climate change will increasingly affect these landscapes and cultural heritage resources due to increases in the frequency of extreme weather events and droughts, as well as in temperature and other impacts. Climate change impacts affect different landscapes differently; hence, adaptation strategies, by their nature, need to be locally specific and driven by local conditions, vulnerabilities, and needs. The European Landscape Convention focuses on the social and cultural values of the landscape that make a community unique. Local economies are linked to natural and cultural resources through traditional economies, based on agriculture, forestry and land use, water use, and tourism along short supply and value chains. Thus, policy makers and landscape planners need to consider a holistic approach (or landscape approach) to foster sustainable management transition that accounts for these interactions in order to develop effective adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change.

This Special Issue aims to review discourses and frameworks and contribute to the state-of-the-art knowledge of the relationships between climate change, cultural landscapes, and local sustainable adaptation. It will provide background pieces on options, empirical investigation of potential local climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and discuss opportunities and challenges in facilitating new approaches to climate change adaptation that incorporate cultural landscapes. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

 

  • Reviews of existing indicators, methods, and tools for the assessment of climate change impacts on cultural landscapes and cultural heritage resources;
  • Analyses of the cultural landscape approach and integrated landscape approach to climate change;
  • Reviews focused on the challenges and opportunities of integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation policies with cultural landscapes;
  • Methods of improving adaptive capacities of local institutions;
  • Protecting cultural landscapes using climate-smart agriculture, agroforestry or agroecology approaches.

Dr. Allison M. Chatrchyan
Dr. Ahmadreza Shirvani Dastgerdi
Prof. Dr. María Rosa Mosquera-Losada
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Climate is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • Cultural landscapes
  • Traditional cultures
  • Cultural heritage resources
  • Integrated landscape management
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Climate-smart agriculture
  • Agroforestry approaches
  • Agroecology approaches
  • Governance of cultural landscapes
  • Landscape policies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1056 KiB  
Article
Road Salt Damage to Historical Milestones Indicates Adaptation of Winter Roads to Future Climate Change May Damage Arctic Cultural Heritage
by Hans Antonson, Philip Buckland and Göran Blomqvist
Climate 2021, 9(10), 149; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cli9100149 - 09 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2435
Abstract
There is no doubt that anthropogenic global warming is accelerating damage to cultural heritage. Adaptation measures are required to reduce the loss of sites, monuments and remains. However, little research has been directed towards understanding potential impacts of climate adaptation measures in other [...] Read more.
There is no doubt that anthropogenic global warming is accelerating damage to cultural heritage. Adaptation measures are required to reduce the loss of sites, monuments and remains. However, little research has been directed towards understanding potential impacts of climate adaptation measures in other governmental sectors on cultural heritage. We provide a case study demonstrating that winter road salt, used to reduce ice related accidents, damages historical iron milestones. As the climate warms, road salt use will move north into areas where sites have been protected by contiguous winter snow cover. This will expose Artic/sub-Arctic cultural heritage, including Viking graves and Sami sites, to a new anthropogenic source of damage. Research and planning should therefore include the evaluation of secondary impacts when choosing climate adaptation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Landscape Approaches and Climate Change Policy)
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26 pages, 35541 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Climate-Driven Flood Risk and Adaptation Supporting the Conservation Management Plan of a Heritage Site. The National Art Schools of Cuba
by Leonardo Stucchi, Daniele Fabrizio Bignami, Daniele Bocchiola, Davide Del Curto, Andrea Garzulino and Renzo Rosso
Climate 2021, 9(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020023 - 23 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3771
Abstract
This work illustrates the contribution of flood risk assessment and adaptation to set up a conservation management plan for a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Case study is the iconic complex, internationally known as the National Art Schools of Cuba. It consists of five [...] Read more.
This work illustrates the contribution of flood risk assessment and adaptation to set up a conservation management plan for a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Case study is the iconic complex, internationally known as the National Art Schools of Cuba. It consists of five buildings built in the early 1960s within a park of Habana next to the Caribbean Sea. The path of the river (Rio Quibù) crossing the estate was modified to fit the landscape design. The complex has then been exposed to the risk of flooding. The School of Ballet, located in a narrow meander of the river, slightly upstream of a bridge and partially obstructing the flow, is particularly subject to frequent flash floods from the Rio Quibù, and it needs urgent restoration. Keeping ISA Modern is a project aimed at preserving the Schools complex. Based upon in situ surveys on the Rio Quibù and local area measurements during 2019, numerical modelling, and previous work by the Cuban National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, we pursued a flood risk analysis for the area, and a preliminary analysis of available risk reduction strategies. Using HEC-RAS 2D software for hydraulic modelling, we evaluated the flooded area and the hydraulic conditions (flow depth, velocity) for floods with given return periods. Our results show that SB is a building most subject to flooding, with high levels of risk. Defense strategies as designed by Cuban authorities may include a (new) wall around the School of Ballet and widening of the river channel, with high impact and cost, although not definitive. Temporary, light, permanent, and low cost/impact flood proofing structures may be used with similar effectiveness. We demonstrate that relatively little expensive hydraulic investigation may aid flood modelling and risk assessment in support of conservation projects for historically valuable sites. This may support brainstorming and the selection of (low to high cost) adaptation and risk reduction measures in the coastal areas of Cuba in response to ever increasing extreme storms and sea level rise controlling flood dynamics under transient climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Landscape Approaches and Climate Change Policy)
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21 pages, 4711 KiB  
Article
Local Institutions and Climate Change Adaptation: Appraising Dysfunctional and Functional Roles of Local Institutions from the Bilate Basin Agropastoral Livelihood Zone of Sidama, Southern Ethiopia
by Firew Bekele, Degefa Tolossa and Teshale Woldeamanuel
Climate 2020, 8(12), 149; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cli8120149 - 15 Dec 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3410
Abstract
This study aimed to appraise the role of local institutions in adaptation to changing climate at the local level in the Bilate Basin Agropastoral Livelihood Zone of Ethiopia. Thirty-one years of climate data were analyzed by employing the Mann–Kendall trend and Sen’s slope [...] Read more.
This study aimed to appraise the role of local institutions in adaptation to changing climate at the local level in the Bilate Basin Agropastoral Livelihood Zone of Ethiopia. Thirty-one years of climate data were analyzed by employing the Mann–Kendall trend and Sen’s slope test techniques. The survey was conducted on 400 households that were systematically randomized from 7066 households, while community-level data were collected through the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique. The entire analysis was framed by a tetragonal model. The results of the analysis indicated that temperature exhibited a significantly increasing trend, while rainfall, which is statistically related to temperature, showed a decreasing trend, resulting in lingering droughts and human and animal diseases. Major livestock declined by 69%. As a response, while Sidama indigenous institutions were well-functioning and nurtured through local knowledge, and the governmental and civic ones were entrenched with various limitations. Contextual fitness and compatibility, interplay, inclusiveness, and sustainability of their operations in temporal and spatial scales were some of their limitations. Therefore, federal and local governments should focus on monitoring, evaluating, and learning aspects of their grand strategies, review general education, farmers’ credit, and civic institutions’ governance policies and strengthen the synergy of civic, government, and indigenous institutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Landscape Approaches and Climate Change Policy)
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