• Del
•  
• Print
• +299 38 39 50 AG
• +299 38 39 80 Sermitsiaq

Af redaktionen 06-04 2009 - 12:24

Finding a way to prevent climate change from ruining culturally important heritage sites is the reason behind a Nordic project called ‘The effects of climate change on cultural artefacts and cultural environments’, led by the Norwegian State Archive.

When glaciers melt, humidity increases, temperatures rise and strong winds blow over the landscape there is a knock-on effect on protected buildings, monuments and cultural environments.

In Greenland, the rising temperatures create problems with the permafrost in Disko Bay.

‘This is where we have one of our finest cultural areas, dating back over 4,000 years and with traces and evidence of the first people in Greenland,’ said Anne Nørgård Jørgensen, an archaeologist with Denmark’s Natural Heritage committee.

‘The permafrost helps to preserve these things, and if it thaws we will simply lose those parts of Greenland’s cultural heritage.’

The project intends to find ways of limiting the damage caused by climate change in the Nordic countries.

Jørgensen pointed out that it is impossible to prove that climate change alone is responsible for deteriorating conditions of various items and areas of cultural heritage.

‘But we can see that the climate affects cultural heritage through, among other things, coastal erosion, storm deposits and increased humidity,’ said Jørgensen.

The project was set up in 2008 and is expected to be completed with its research and findings by 2010. The Nordic Council has recently awarded the project 600,000 kroner to help with the effort.

The results of the project are expected to be announced at a Nordic conference in Oslo this November.