Creating a Vocabulary of Climate Change Hazards for Heritage
Author(s): Helen Thomas, Philip Carlisle, Scott Orr
Climate change hazards are the potential occurrences of natural or physical events that may cause damage or loss. They are currently ill-defined for heritage. The distinction between the related terms hazard, impact, threat, and driver is not always clearly drawn and there is no definitive list of climate hazards for heritage that is directly connected to changing climatic processes. This project addresses these gaps by creating a standardised vocabulary of climate hazards for heritage. It adapts the methods and definitions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), aligning cultural heritage with international climate change science. The final hazard list is published on the Forum on Information Standards for Heritage (FISH) as a controlled vocabulary. The creation of these standardised terms allows heritage professionals to consistently record what at-risk sites are actually at risk from. This can inform assessments of climate change impacts on both single heritage sites and the wider historic environment.
- Report Number:
- 13/2024
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 64
- Keywords:
- Climate Change Historic Environment Risk Management Controlled Vocabularies Arches for HER
