Cite this as: Kountouri, E., Benissi, C. and Spyropoulou, S. 2022 Integrating Climate Change into Protection Policies in Greece, Internet Archaeology 60. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.60.8
The emerging need to secure the long-term preservation of the archaeological sites and monuments of Greece against the growing threats of climate change is considered a pressing issue for the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. The impacts of climate and weather-related risks (extreme weather events associated with floods and intense and gusty winds, forest fires, drought-erosion-landslides, rising sea-levels, etc.) are recognised as emerging threats that compromise the integrity and values of the cultural and natural environment.
In recent years, a systematic and targeted national effort has been implemented to improve the resilience of cultural sites to climate change by planning and implementing central and regional policies that address heritage needs and provide the methodology and technical tools to identify, measure, evaluate and counter the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage on a medium and long-term basis. As part of this process, climate change is being taken into consideration within the framework of drafting integrated management plans for 15 Greek sites that are included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, an ongoing project implemented by the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Ministry.
In this article we attempt to highlight the pilot character of these plans for integrating into management policies climate-related aspects that need to be addressed in a coordinated manner. This will help not only to achieve the national goals regarding the preservation and adaptation of cultural heritage to counter the effects of climate change, but to prevent and mitigate the specific dangers not only for the World Heritage Properties but, gradually, for all Greek cultural monuments and archaeological sites.
Corresponding author: Elena Kountouri
ekountouri@culture.gr
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports,
Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
Constantina Benissi
kbenissi@culture.gr
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports,
Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
Sofia Spyropoulou
sspiropoulou@culture.gr
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports,
Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
Figure 1: The archaeological site of Olympia is surrounded by extensive forestry, thus always at risk from fires that are often influenced by climate change in terms of occurrence and dispersion (©Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports)
Figure 2: In Crete, rising sea levels and intense waves threaten the sea fortress of Koules in Heraklion (©Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports)
Figure 3: The Minoan Palace of Malia, Crete, is frequently flooded during winter (©Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports)
Figure 4: At the archaeological site of Delphi, rock-falls could be a threat for monuments and visitors rendering parts of the sanctuary inaccessible (©Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports)
Korka, E. 2018 'Natural disasters and risks in World Heritage Monuments of Greece. lessons learnt' in R.G. Lefèvre and C. Sabbioni Cultural Heritage Facing Climate Change: Experiences and Ideas for Resilience and Adaptation, Bari: Edipuglia. 75-79. https://rm.coe.int/korka-offprints/16808b1676 [Last accessed: 30 December 2021].
Paton, D. 2015 Wildfire Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Elsevier Inc. https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780124104341/wildfire-hazards-risks-and-disasters
Prokos, P. 2008 'Equilibrium conditions of marine originated salt mixtures: an ECOS application at the archaeological site of Delos, Greece', January 2008 Conference: Salt Weathering of Buildings and Stone Sculptures, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Internet Archaeology is an open access journal based in the Department of Archaeology, University of York. Except where otherwise noted, content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY) Unported licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that attribution to the author(s), the title of the work, the Internet Archaeology journal and the relevant URL/DOI are given.
Terms and Conditions | Legal Statements | Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Citing Internet Archaeology
Internet Archaeology content is preserved for the long term with the Archaeology Data Service. Help sustain and support open access publication by donating to our Open Access Archaeology Fund.
Home
