Climate resilient, climate friendly world heritage cities

This report is organized in five sections. Section 1 presents an overview of World Heritage Cities (WHC), their geographic distribution and the growth of the urban agglomerations to which they belong. Section 2 presents the natural hazard risks and climate change impacts facing WHC, their location on the coastline or interior, and their rank in terms of level of vulnerability. Section 3 outlines the characteristics that historic cities have in terms of carbon emissions and potential for climate change mitigation.
Section 4 discusses the sources of financing which WHC may turn to in order to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. Section 5 presents the climate change adaptation and mitigation action plans being implemented in the WHC of Paris, Tunis, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Hué, and Quito.

CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS FOR WORLD HERITAGE CITIES

WHC are at significant risk of deterioration. Climate change and natural disasters will exacerbate those already complex challenges, and specific geographic locations such as coastal areas and spatial development patterns may cause additional vulnerability to WHC. Human-created hazards such as unsustainable tourism, uncontrolled urbanization, and poor management already constitute serious threats for some WHC. Compounding risks due to climate change and natural disasters into the equation
will make the conservation needs even more challenging in the future, especially for those located in developing countries, where policies and resources to conserve and rehabilitate are often insufficient.
Sea level rise and storm surges, coastal erosion, extreme precipitation events, heat waves and heat island effect, water scarcity, and worsening air quality are the most relevant climate related hazards in urban areas, with impacts on public health and the environment. Geophysical and hydro-meteorological events are affecting heritage cities and are becoming more intense and more frequent.

source:

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/084f4bee-9b45-5cc0-aa0f-3c07f2faa095