UNESCO’s world heritage site of Sanssouci Palace and Gardens in Potsdam, Germany, is under threat from climate change, according to a recent report from Euronews.
The same notes that in addition to the above mentioned, other world heritage sites are increasingly at risk as well, as a result of the effects of climate change.
Such concerns are raised following the fact that this August was the hottest one, with temperatures 0.7 degrees Celcius above the 1991-2020 average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Michael Rhode, Garden Director at the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens, told Euronews that there is plenty to be concerned about, too.
We’ve been feeling the effects of climate change here for about ten years, but the last six years have been much more severe. It’s raining less here; we have the impacts of heat; we have the soil, the drying out of the groundwater; it’s not recharging anymore. And, of course, we have the issue of trees falling down as a consequence of that.
The conservationist for the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens, Katherina Matheja, announced that recently introduced resource-efficient irrigation, which was previously an unthinkable option in a wet country such as Germany.
Matheja said that another opportunity that would help this territory is planting natural saplings from the parkland instead of buying trees from nurseries as before. The main reason is that young plants that have survived in this place have a better chance of resisting drought and heat in the following years.
Our hope is that this tree is better adapted to the site than a tree that comes from the nursery where it’s pampered with nutrients and water, that this tree can develop better here.
There are a total of 1,157 sites in countries worldwide considered as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In order to be part of World Heritage Sites, sites should be considered to have an outstanding universal value and also meet at least one out of ten selection criteria, including representing a masterpiece of human creative genius and exhibiting a significant interchange of human values, among others.
Italy is the country with the most significant number of sites on the list, with a total of 58. However, other countries, such as Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia, and India, have a large number of sites named world heritage.
