Climate Change in the World Heritage Convention

The World Heritage Committee at its 31st meeting in Christchurch.

The Climate Justice Programme had co-ordinated the presentation of six petitions to place World Heritage Properties on the danger list due to the effect of climate change: being on the Great Barrier Reef, Sagamatha National Park, Belize Barrier Reef, Huascaran National Park, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

The 21-member Committee discussed a 'Policy Document on the Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Properties',and decided to:

• urge States Parties to participate in the UN Climate Change conferences with a view to achieving a comprehensive post-Kyoto agreement
• encourage the World Heritage Centre to sensitize States Parties, as appropriate, to the need to establish interdisciplinary mechanisms to deal with policy and governance issues relating to the effects of climate change on World Heritage properties;
• recommend the World Heritage Centre strengthen its relations with all organizations working on climate change, particularly with UNFCCC and IPCC secretariats, specifically with regard to the effects of climate change on World Heritage Properties and
• for future sessions of the World Heritage Committee, to add to the working document on State of Conservation reporting, a section on those properties most affected by climate change
• recommend that the Policy Document be read in conjunction with the report on “Predicting and managing the impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage” and the “Strategy to assist States Parties to implement appropriate management responses” endorsed by the Committee at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006) together with other relevant conventions such as Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification and other UNESCO initiatives - and further thanks the Government of Spain for supporting their publication as World Heritage Paper No. 22.

A publication, Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage, was prepared for the meeting.

The decision was a useful step towards the recognition of the effects of climate change in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and to enhancing the synergies between MEAs.

Climate Conventions

Framework Convention on Climate Change

Vienna Convention

Montreal Protocol

Ozone Secretariat (Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol) including the status of ratifications and the 1997 Montreal Amendments.

Climate Caselaw

ECJ: Stichting Greenpeace Council v European Commission

Minnesota Court of Appeal Case concerning Carbon Dioxide and the Quantification of Environmental Costs in Electricity Generation