Coastal hazards along African Heritage Sites

Michail Vousdoukas

Description

Projections of exposure of African Heritage Sites to coastal floods and erosion in view of climate change during the current century

Contact

Email: Michail.VOUSDOUKAS (at) ec.europa.eu

Contributors

Michail Vousdoukas

0000-0003-2655-6181

How to cite

Vousdoukas, Michail (2021): Coastal hazards along African Heritage Sites. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/31e2737e-2059-4f47-b088-16db7a09a555

Keywords

`africa climate change impacts coastal floods cultural heritage natural heritage

Data access

Present and Future coastal hazards along African heritage sites

Use conditions: European Commission reuse notice
Access conditions: No limitations

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Present and future exposure of african heritage sites to coastal floods

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Publications

Publication 2022

African heritage sites threatened as sea-level rise accelerates

Vousdoukas, M., Clarke, J., Ranasinghe, R., Reimann, L., Khalaf, N., Duong, T.M., Ouweneel, B., Sabour, S., Iles, C., Trisos, C., Feyen, L., Mentaschi, L. and Simpson, N.P., African heritage sites threatened as sea-level rise accelerates, NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE, ISSN 1758-678X (online), 12 (3), 2022, p. 256–262, JRC125903.

NATURE PORTFOLIO, LONDON, ENGLAND

DOI

10.1038/s41558-022-01280-1

Publication page

Abstract

The African coast contains heritage sites of ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ that face increasing risk from anthropogenic climate change. Here, we generated a database of 213 natural and 71 cultural African heritage sites to assess exposure to coastal flooding and erosion under moderate (RCP 4.5) and high (RCP 8.5) greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Currently, 56 sites (20%) are at risk from a 1-in-100-year coastal extreme event, including the iconic ruins of Tipasa (Algeria) and the North Sinai Archaeological Sites Zone (Egypt). By 2050, the number of exposed sites is projected to more than triple, reaching almost 200 sites under high emissions. Emissions mitigation from RCP 8.5 to RCP 4.5 reduces the number of very highly exposed sites by 25%. These findings highlight the urgent need for increased climate change adaptation for heritage sites in Africa, including governance and management approaches, site-specific vulnerability assessments, exposure monitoring, and protection strategies.

Geographic areas

Africa

Temporal coverage

From date	To date
2010-01-01	2099-12-31

Additional information

Published by: European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Created date: 2021-12-23
Modified date: 2022-01-25
Issued date: 2021-12-23
Landing page: https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/LISCOAST/CoastalHazardsAfricanHeritage/AfricanHeritageSitesCoastalFloods.zip
Data theme(s): Education, culture and sport, Population and society, Science and technology
Update frequency: unknown
Identifier: http://data.europa.eu/89h/31e2737e-2059-4f47-b088-16db7a09a555
Popularity