---
title: "New Climate Paper: Maybe Let’s Let Venice Sink?"
description: "How much effort should we place on preserving World Heritage Sites threatened by climate changes brought on by human activity?"
date: "2020-08-10"
modified: "2020-08-10"
authors:
  - name: "Jacob Banas"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jake"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-climate-paper-let-venice-sink"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "the digest"
  - "venice"
  - "world heritage sites"
---

# New Climate Paper: Maybe Let’s Let Venice Sink?

![How much effort should we place on preserving World Heritage Sites threatened by climate changes brought on by human activity?](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/new-climate-paper-let-venice-sink.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Petr Kratochvil/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Absolutely Atlantian

How much effort should we place on preserving heritage as the world around us changes? "How much effort," asks a press release from [North Carolina State University, ](<https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/08/landmarks-facing-climate-threats-could-transform/>)"should be spent trying to keep Venice looking like Venice?"

Rather than spending increasing resources to keep Venice looking like Venice, a new proposal published in the journal [*Climate Change*](<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-020-02812-4>) suggests World Heritage Sites, like Venice, should be allowed to "transform" as our world changes.

## Timeless

Historically, preservation efforts have focused on keeping heritage sites exactly as they were. But, as the world around us [continues to change](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-change-going-suck-wont-armageddon>), preservationists and researchers are suggesting there may be a better model than to keep up with the pace of change.

In a paper co-authored by Eugene Jo, World Heritage Leadership Programme Coordinator at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, and Erin Seekamp, a professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University, Seekamp and Jo argue that heritage sites "severely impacted" by climate change could remain damaged to serve as a “memory” of that event and to encourage conversation about the loss.

## Keep it Cool

Ultimately, Seekamp and Jo call for a new categorization of heritage sites they call “World Heritage Sites in Climatic Transformation." The designation would better help identify sites at risk and funnel resources towards them; almost like an endangered species list for parts of the world. Rather than be forced to continue preventing change, the designation would allow heritage sites to progress in a way that benefits them as well as the environment.

“We’re not saying that this should open the door for development or tourism,” Seekamp adds. “We’re saying, ‘Let’s create a new categorization, and enable those places to not just think about persistent adaptation, but about transformative adaptation.’ It allows us to think about alternatives.”

**READ MORE:** [Landmarks Facing Climate Threats Could ‘Transform,’ Expert Says](<https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/08/landmarks-facing-climate-threats-could-transform/>) \[NCSU\]

**More on Climate Change:** [Scientists: Climate Change Is Going to Suck, but It Won’t Be Armageddon](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-change-going-suck-wont-armageddon>)

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobjbanas/>)