Many world heritage sites were in danger due to global climate change, said two UN organizations here on Tuesday.

 

Climate changes were impacting on all aspects of the human and natural systems, including both cultural and natural World Heritage properties, Joseph Massaquoi, director of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Bureau for Science and Technology in Africa, said at UN Climate Change Conference in Nairobi on Tuesday.

 

Some cultural heritage sites have very fragile foundations, and the rise of soil temperature could make them weaker so the governments have to spend a lot of money to sustain them, said Massaquoi, saying that climate change may bring flood and other types of disasters which make it difficult to protect our heritage.

 

A report released by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the UNESCO said Charles Darwin's favorite barrier reef in Belize, Honduras, South Africa's famous West Coast National Park, monuments of Alexandria in Egypt and many other cultural and natural heritage properties were under threat due to climate change.

 

"We must act now to build resilience, so that important ecosystems, like coral reefs, can survive and recover better in the face of the climate change that is already underway, " said the UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner, "we must also use intelligence and scientific know-how to assist managers of culturally important sites like buildings and archaeological finds. "

 

The Nov. 6 to 17 conference, including the 12th Conference of the 189 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2nd meeting of the 166 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and other side events, is the first UN climate summit held in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

The meeting will help focus attention on such issues as adaptation to climate change, along with funding and capacity building required for developing countries to adapt and to participate in the clean development mechanism.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2006)