How Climate Change Threatens Natural World Heritage

Climate change poses a major threat to natural heritage in the entire world. According to a report that was published by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), close to 33 percent of natural world heritage are on the verge of depletion as a result of climate change.

According to UNESCO, there are 252 natural World Heritage sites. The 252 distinct sites were recognized by the World Heritage Convention owing to their outstanding ecosystem, biodiversity, geology, history and splendid natural phenomena.

World Heritage sites cover about 8 percent of the total surface that’s inhabited by both terrestrial and marine habitats globally. Italy and China are privileged to have the highest number of world heritage places. Both of them have a total of 55 sites.

Rising temperatures has led to the migration of invasive species which is among the topmost threat to natural world heritage. Severe drought and fire outbreak continue to wreak havoc in various parts of the world resulting to the displacement of wild animals. Wetlands are also under risk of depletion due to increased rate of desertification.

The Great Barrier Reef is among the natural World Heritage sites that are currently threatened by the impact of climate change. Extreme weather changes have resulted to the decline of marine species and contributed to the dramatic coral decrease.

According to IUCN, the rapidly melting Kaskawulsh Glacier located in a natural World Heritage site in USA and Canada has contributed to the depletion of fish population. The 2010-2020 bushfire in Brazil destroyed the Pantanal Conservation area and displaced the terrestrial habitat.