
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named a series of World Heritage Sites that could be gone by 2050 thanks to climate change. UNESCO’s World Heritage List names attractions and historic sites it seeks to preserve worldwide. The list currently contains the names of 1,223 sites but the organization warns that some will disappear because of climate change-related coastal erosion and increasing temperatures.
On the list are several glaciers comprising 10% of the world’s total. UNESCO claims these are melting at an accelerated rate, losing 58 billion tons of ice annually, and are responsible for 5% of sea level increases. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General, said, “Only a rapid reduction in our CO2 emissions levels can save glaciers and the exceptional biodiversity that depends on them.”
On the top of the list is Indonesia’s Subak System, an irrigation system based in Bali. The UN agency says it is vulnerable to surface flooding. More well-known at-risk tourist attractions include Sydney’s famous Opera House in Australia and the Sansa Buddhist Mountain Monasteries on the Korean peninsula.
In America, glaciers in Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Waterton Glacier International Peace Park are predicted to disappear in the next few decades.
According to the latest National Climate Assessment report last year, much of the Eastern United States is under threat of increasing floods, while the Western states are vulnerable to droughts and wildfires. The report states that Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho will see hotter and drier conditions in the coming years. The Pacific coast is the most vulnerable part of the US, and experts predict water will become a valuable resource there.
Several American cities are also considered under threat, either from too much water or not enough. The city predicted to be impacted most is Houston, Texas, followed by the Floridian cities Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Orlando—all of which are vulnerable to sea level rises. Campaigners ominously warn that New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, and other cities based on large water bodies could face oblivion over the next century.
A housing survey earlier this year determined that just over 44% of American homes are located in regions facing one type of “severe or extreme climate risk.”