USA: Climate change poses a threat to cultural heritage

Source(s): Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc.

By Victoria Herrmann, Managing Director of The Arctic Institute and a National Geographic Explorer

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Sea level rise, wildfires and extreme weather events are already causing the displacement and resettlement of communities on every continent. As families face the physical, mental and spiritual health challenges of dislocation and seek new homes on safer ground, they are often forced to leave culturally important places, landscapes, traditions and histories behind.

When I compare my story to those of my colleagues experiencing climate-induced displacement in the Arctic and along the Gulf Coast, I notice a gap. Investment in cultural heritage—the keystone of my family’s resilience—is absent from climate policies.  

That cultural deficiency in our support for climate change migrants is dangerous.

Damage to cultural heritage that comes from severing a community’s attachment to a place is demoralizing in the short-term and hinders long-term recovery and resilience. Severing social ties, dislocating local knowledge on how to absorb shocks, and weakening cultural practices like food, faith and music—practices that could be vital in building friendships in new hometowns if they were preserved—all erode the adaptability of individuals and social safety net of communities.

To support resilient migration for America’s climate-affected communities, climate change policies must allocate resources for the documentation, support and physical housing of cultural heritage at every step of the migration process.

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