Climate Change versus Cultural Heritage: Past, Present and Future

Dear Colleagues,

Cultural heritage is one of the pillars of society and forms the identity of peoples. Since prehistoric times, humankind has created and built objects and structures with a diverse range of organic and inorganic supports. Over time, these have transformed into objects of cultural heritage, telling the stories of a (more or less) distant past and preserving the memory and culture of the peoples that preceded us.

In recent decades, cultural heritage sites have hosted thousands of visitors, boosting the social and economic sustainability of nearby populations. However, the degradation of cultural heritage sites has increased to an unprecedented scale due to climate change.

The climate crisis directly and indirectly threatens all kinds of cultural heritage, whether it is a World Heritage Site, a small chapel in rural areas, cave paintings and rock engravings, an Iron Age hillfort, or a medieval castle. Extreme weather events—including abundant rainfall, floods, rising sea levels, prolonged heat waves, drought, strong winds, fires, and erosion—which will become increasingly frequent, have immediate consequences, and naturally speed up the rate of natural degradation processes. These processes, anthropic, chemical, physical, or biological in origin, cause the degradation of materials, leading to a greater need for conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, including outdoors sites and objects of cultural significance stored in museums, libraries, and archives.

Despite rising concerns regarding cultural heritage degradation, little is known about the impacts of the climate crisis on cultural heritage and how this potentiates the usual factors of deterioration. The scientific literature in this area and studies focused on preventive solutions remain scarce. As such, with this Special Issue, we intend to address some of these gaps, encouraging researchers from different backgrounds to explore, via a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transversal approach, climate change’s impact on cultural heritage.

The topics of interest for this issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• current and emerging climate change impacts and threats to cultural heritage
• cultural heritage adaptation and mitigation practices to curb effects of climate change
• cultural heritage monitorization to reduce climate-change-related impacts
• cultural heritage damage mechanisms
• cultural heritage and factors of deterioration over time
• challenges and actions for preservation and conservation
• preventive conservation of cultural heritage
• methods and technics of study and monitorization
• coastal erosion and sea level rise as threats to cultural heritage
• floods and landslides and their impact on cultural heritage
• windstorm and heavy rainfall as threats to cultural heritage
• heat waves and fires as threats to cultural heritage

Prof. Dr. Fátima Matos Silva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Quaternary is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Title: Fostering resilience of cultural heritage to climate change thought smart and sustainable solutions
Authors: Ana Fragata 1, Martha Tavares 2, Fátima Silva 3
Affiliation: 1.GeoBioTec, Geociences Department, University of Aveiro, Portugal; 2.CITAR, School of Arts, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Portugal; 3.UPT, University Portucalense, Portugal.
Abstract: Climate change is a global threat. Protecting cultural heritage from climate change requires a comprehensive approach that combines conservation strategies, urban planning and climate adaptation measures. Smart and sustainable solutions play an important role in minimizing these impacts on cultural heritage. This article will address some guidelines and solutions that combine technology, innovations and sustainable approaches in and around cultural heritage, that could over time impact their appearance, use and meaning, contributing therefore to improve built heritage resilience to climate change in dynamic contexts.