Cultural heritage carries the traces left behind by our ancestors as members of human society. When cultural heritage encounters climate change, what new crises will emerge, and what new opportunities might arise?
On the afternoon of July 17, the cultural salon “The Temperature of Civilization: The Protection and Challenges of Tangible Cultural Heritage Under Climate Change” was held in Beijing. The event was jointly organized by Greenpeace and the Meteorological Science Popularization Studio, hosted by Huafeng Innovation, and guided by the Publicity and Education Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Experts from the fields of cultural relic protection, cultural heritage research, and climate change were invited to participate, including Li Guanghan, Assistant Director of WHITRAP-Beijing. The discussion focused on the challenges faced by tangible cultural heritage and future directions for action.
Discussions about climate change should not be limited to the language of natural science or energy policy. Climate change is also closely connected to our cultural lives and identity. The research project The Temperature of Civilization analyzes how climate change is significantly affecting climate patterns in Northwest China. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are creating new risks for the region’s many historical relics from the Han and Tang dynasties onward—grottoes, sculptures, murals, architecture, and other artistic treasures.
Salon scene © Greenpeace
Zhu Dingzhen, former Chief Expert of Meteorological Services at the Public Meteorological Service Center of the China Meteorological Administration, stated in his speech that Northwest China possesses extremely valuable historical sites and cultural relics, with Gansu Province especially known as the “home of grottoes.” Gansu is also climatically vulnerable, where the effects of climate change are particularly evident. Extreme weather events such as short-term heavy rainfall, floods, and sandstorms can alter temperature and humidity inside caves, accelerating deterioration and causing major damage to poorly preserved grotto heritage sites.
Renowned Chinese art historian Cao Xingyuan sent remarks by video, emphasizing that cultural identity is extremely important to both social and economic life. The Temperature of Civilization draws attention to how climate change affects the tangible cultural heritage of Northwest China, especially above-ground heritage remains. Addressing the impact of extreme weather on cultural heritage, she noted, is a crucial task for art historians and heritage conservation professionals.
Left image | Zhu Dingzhen, former Chief Expert of Meteorological Services at the Public Meteorological Service Center of the China Meteorological Administration © Greenpeace
Right image | Renowned Chinese art historian Cao Xingyuan © Greenpeace
After the opening remarks, deeper discussions were held during keynote presentations and a roundtable session by Li Guanghan from WHITRAP-Beijing, Wang Jinyu from the Dunhuang Academy, Tang Min from the Ancient Village Friends Ancient Village Protection and Development Promotion Center, Greenpeace senior researcher Li Zhao, and cultural content creator and traditional mythology researcher Fang Jiahe.
01. Cultural Heritage Protection and Climate Action from a Global Perspective
“Previously, when we conducted cultural relic conservation research, we only focused on how climate conditions affected the relics themselves, without connecting this to climate change. Now that we have greater understanding of climate change, paying attention to this perspective is extremely important.”
— Speaker: Li Guanghan / Assistant Director, WHITRAP-Beijing
Li Guanghan, Assistant Director of WHITRAP-Beijing © Greenpeace
UNESCO began paying attention to the relationship between World Heritage and climate change as early as 2005. Several important documents were issued in 2006 and 2007, including the 2006 report Climate Change and World Heritage and the 2007 policy document Policy Document on the Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Properties, adopted at the World Heritage Committee meeting.
At the 2023 World Heritage Committee meeting, after years of review, the committee planned its first major revision and supplement to the 2007 document.
Li Guanghan also mentioned the importance of the Paris Agreement, noting that many people in the heritage field are closely following it. ICOMOS, the world’s largest professional heritage conservation organization, endorsed the Paris Agreement at its 2017 conference and mobilized the heritage sector to support climate action.
The reports Climate Change and World Heritage and Policy Document on the Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Properties
UNESCO categorizes World Heritage into natural heritage, cultural heritage, and mixed heritage. Climate change affects cultural heritage in more complex ways than natural heritage because, in addition to physical damage, it also creates social and cultural impacts.
Rapid climate shifts can alter livelihoods, force changes in land use practices, lead communities to abandon traditional settlements, and even cause environmental migration. These impacts are especially significant for rural heritage and cultural landscapes.
Traditional knowledge embedded in cultural heritage can help humanity build resilience against uncertain futures. Conversely, protecting cultural heritage can also positively contribute to climate action.
Li Guanghan summarized four ways heritage protection can mitigate climate change impacts:
First, using heritage knowledge and traditional knowledge through cultural-based solutions to rapidly and effectively reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.
Second, reducing land-use change itself is a sustainable climate adaptation strategy. Protecting agricultural landscapes, traditional villages, and traditional human-land relationships helps reduce land-use transformation.
Third, through the adaptive reuse and restoration of historic buildings, promoting low-carbon traditional construction techniques and materials suited to local climates can reduce emissions.
Fourth, integrating climate adaptation principles into tourism development planning for heritage sites can support sustainable cultural tourism and minimize environmental impacts.
02. Climate Change: The Challenge of Heavy Rainfall for Grotto Heritage
“For World Heritage sites like the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, enormous human and financial resources are needed to withstand severe rainstorms. Lower-level heritage sites should already begin preparing for the impacts of climate change.”
— Speaker: Wang Jinyu / Researcher, Conservation Institute of the Dunhuang Academy
Wang Jinyu, researcher at the Conservation Institute of the Dunhuang Academy © Greenpeace
Extreme weather events caused by climate change—especially heavy rainfall, landslides, mudslides, and floods—pose enormous threats to both cultural relics and their physical surroundings.
On June 15–16, 2011, Dunhuang experienced widespread continuous heavy rainfall totaling 40.1 mm. Just two days of rain equaled the region’s average annual rainfall over the previous 40 years. The Mogao Caves, Yulin Caves, and Western Thousand Buddha Caves all suffered varying degrees of damage to cliff structures, cave-front buildings, and murals.
During the catastrophic July 6 rainstorm in 2019, caves repaired in 2011 and 2012 remained intact, but untreated sections without weatherproofing or waterproof reinforcement still experienced rock surface collapse and other damage.
Different grotto sites across Gansu experience varying levels of extreme weather impact depending on their local climate conditions. Grottoes located in rainier regions suffer more severe damage.
03. New Challenges for Ancient Village Heritage Under Climate Change
“Especially during the rainy season, every rainstorm can become a death sentence for heritage buildings… Our efforts may seem insignificant, but these earthworm-like actions keep loosening the soil, allowing more people to feel pride in protecting cultural heritage.”
— Speaker: Tang Min / Founder of the Ancient Village Friends Ancient Village Protection and Development Promotion Center
Tang Min, founder of the Ancient Village Friends Ancient Village Protection and Development Promotion Center © Greenpeace
From the perspective of heritage classification, World Heritage sites naturally receive global recognition, while China also has national and provincial protection levels. However, Tang Min emphasized the importance of protecting local knowledge and ordinary people’s heritage.
The organization focuses on municipal-level, county-level, and even unclassified heritage sites that still hold cultural significance. Though these sites may not rank highly administratively, they possess tremendous educational and cultural value.
These lower-level historic buildings face three major challenges:
First, time is limited. Three years is often the maximum survival period for leaking historic buildings, meaning rescue work must be completed quickly.
Second, the sheer quantity is overwhelming. China currently has no fewer than 200,000 endangered low-level heritage sites and over one million historic buildings requiring urgent rescue.
Third, adaptive reuse is difficult. Many lower-level heritage sites cannot yet support practical functions, weakening public enthusiasm for preservation. Yet Tang Min believes they will still hold significant value over the next 20 years.
04. Roundtable Forum — The Protection and Challenges of Tangible Cultural Heritage Under Climate Change
The roundtable discussion was moderated by cultural content creator and mythology researcher Fang Jiahe. Participants included the three keynote speakers and Greenpeace senior climate researcher Li Zhao.
Roundtable forum scene © Greenpeace
Li Zhao explained that although Greenpeace has long focused on climate risk issues, its attention to cultural relics began relatively recently. The organization officially launched research on climate change impacts on heritage after the severe flooding in Shanxi Province in 2021.
Following the disaster, they collaborated with Tang Min to document damaged historic buildings and local stories. Pandemic restrictions delayed the project, but this year they finally launched a series of related activities.
For The Temperature of Civilization project, Greenpeace partnered with the Dunhuang Academy because understanding climate impacts on cultural heritage requires long-term observation, monitoring, and data analysis. The academy possesses sufficient research data and theoretical support for such work.
Li Guanghan noted that tourism and visitors undeniably affect heritage sites. Physical contact, carbon dioxide from breathing, and outside light exposure can all damage cultural relics. However, these human impacts can be managed through visitor controls. In contrast, extreme climate events are sudden, unpredictable, and potentially catastrophic.
He added that China’s research on the relationship between heritage protection and climate change still lags behind international work. The issue is not lack of technical foundations, but rather that previous studies did not sufficiently connect local climate conditions with long-term climate change data.
Tang Min pointed out the growing inequality within the heritage sector itself. World-class heritage sites like Dunhuang receive tremendous resources, while ordinary local heritage sites often struggle for survival. Yet lower-level heritage is no less worthy of protection.
As public cultural awareness grows, people may increasingly draw strength from local traditions and knowledge. In southern provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong, strong traditions of local heritage preservation already exist, with villages independently protecting their own heritage.
Wang Jinyu emphasized that climate change has major impacts on cultural heritage, especially immovable heritage sites. He strongly supported preserving lower-level heritage, noting that many relics whose value was initially overlooked later proved highly significant.
He argued that provincial heritage authorities should comprehensively manage all levels of grottoes and immovable heritage sites. Even low-ranking sites should first be stabilized and protected from collapse before further value assessment.
Li Guanghan added that much heritage conservation today remains reactive—repairing damage after deterioration occurs. Preventive conservation has been discussed for years, but actual funding and implementation remain insufficient.
Fang Jiahe reflected on Dunhuang’s historical role as a crossroads of East-West exchange. Dunhuang was not only a center for Chinese Buddhist believers carving caves and creating sacred spaces, but also a multicultural exchange hub influenced by many peoples, including the Sogdians, who played crucial roles along the Silk Road.
He explained that Dunhuang is considered world heritage because it reveals how one of the most important cultural exchange zones across Eurasia shaped civilization and continues influencing life today.
Latest Report: The Temperature of Civilization
On August 4, Greenpeace and Huafeng Meteorological Media Group jointly released the report The Temperature of Civilization: A Systematic Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Ecology, Industry, and Cultural Heritage in Northwest China — A Case Study of Gansu Province.
The report examines Gansu Province as a representative case, systematically evaluating the risks and challenges climate change poses to ecosystems, specialized industries, and cultural-historical heritage.
The report states that climate change in Northwest China is mainly reflected through rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. These changes affect regional water cycles, increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and create more severe challenges for ecological stability, economic development, and the survival of tangible cultural heritage.
Click “Read the original article” at the end of the post to access the abridged version of The Temperature of Civilization report.
