EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ON WORLD HERITAGE SITES

World heritage site refers to a landmark that has a scientific, cultural and historical importance and significance as per the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognition; and which is under the legal protection of international treaties. It could also be a natural or man-made site or even structure whose international importance is outstanding. These sites are held with a high regard due to their importance in the designated interests of the human species (Sullivan 2016). Before a site is chosen to be a world heritage, it has to meet certain specifications. These include; it has to be a landmark, serve as proof of the existence of historical apprehension in the world at large, should have a geographical and historical uniqueness with regard to culture and physical importance; such as an island, forest, desert or cave.

Secondly, the site should have extraordinary natural phenomena which are basically areas of the out-worldly beauty of attraction. The site should also have the most significant of natural habitats of in-situ conservation with regard to biological conservation. These include the existence of endangered species of special universal value with respect to scientific conservation. Similarly, it should also represent important continuing biological and ecological procedures in the fields of terrestrial development, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems as well as animals and plant families. UNESCO, 2016-2018) The cultural criteria, on the other hand, require that the site be representative of humans’ genius masterpiece with regard to human creativity and cultural significance, portray a significant interchange in values over time, architectural and technological development as well as urban planning and design of landscapes. Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City is a world heritage site in Liverpool England as per the designation of UNESCO.

This site was added in the UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger, with regard to the planned building of Liverpool waters project which posed a threat to the site at large. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile has six distinct locations scattered throughout the city and occupies an approximate area of 136 hectares. These locations are: The Pier Head, The Stanley Dock Conservation area, Ropewalks, Castle Street Conservation area, The Albert Dock and William Brown Street Conservation area. Pollard. The creation of legal guidelines to protect the World Heritage site is one of the proposed measures in place. Another one of the most upheld solution suggestion was the development of Liverpool World Heritage Trust as well as developing a good communication system which was directed to developers. Similarly, new guidelines of planning and a height policy for buildings is one of the measures put in place to preserve the heritage of Liverpool’s world heritage site.

The construction of high buildings is due to the effect of human consumption or human intervention. Another instance is the cape floral region which is located in South Africa. It is also to be noted that the danger of extinction faced by Cape Floral is highly due to habitat loss, invasion by alien plants and land degradation. The population of species in cape Floral region is said to be amongst the highest in the world. As a world heritage site, Care Floral region has eight UNESCO protected areas. These include; Table Mountain National park, Groot Winterhoek Wilderness area, Boland Mountain Complex, Cederberg Wilderness Area, De Hoop Nature Reserve, Bosmanbos Wilderness Area, Swartberg Complex and Baviaansloof Mega Reserve. Odendaal et. However, despite the decline in silver production, UNESCO in the year 1987, named the city a world heritage site due to the impact it had on the global economy.

In 2014, the city was placed in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in danger due to excessive mining of minerals like zinc and tin, hence jeopardizing Cerro Rico Mountains’ stability (UNESCO, 2014). The decline of the City of Potosi is clearly as a result of human intervention and consumption in this particular environment. These interferences of the environment were done through mining and excessive mining at it, which led to over-exploitation of the same, hence putting the world heritage site at risk of losing its status. The extent of these impacts may be determined by archeological research. This has been done by dumping 30,000 tons of dirt in these holes so as to restore shape. Similarly, light concrete is being put into these holes with an attempt to fill them. In detail, the following are the major threats facing World Heritage Sites and their effects.

They include: a) LAND TRANSFORMATION Land transformation, in this case, is the development of agriculture and the expansion of urbanization. Statistics has it that over 26% of the land in Cape Floral has been put under agricultural activities. This has posed a significant positive change. c) CONSTRAINTS BY INSTITUTIONS TO CONSERVATION ACTON Many world heritage sites are at the verge of losing their status due to inadequate appropriate institutions with the capacity of supporting the efforts of conservation. This has been one of the main reasons for conversion. Apparently, some organizations possess a large amount of data that would be useful in carrying out conservation, but due to the lack of a proper system of distribution of this data to speed up and intensify conservation efforts. It is due to this that the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) plans end up failing to put into consideration biodiversity in their recommendations hence threatening biodiversity despite it being mandatory by law.

e) DEFORESTATION Deforestation refers to the cutting down or burning of trees and plants in a forested area. Research states that deforestation has claimed almost half of the forests that covered the face of the earth (Brown 2015. p. Clearing of forests to pave way for agriculture and creating settlement areas are some of the major causes of deforestation. Deforestation has diverse impacts on the environment by changing the water cycle, which is one of the most pressing conditions brought about by deforestation, and a significant increase in soil erosion. In addition to that, the sporadic occurrence of fire breakouts due to the deterioration of vegetation structure has had a hazardous impact on the inhabitants putting their lives in jeopardy. This not only endangers the plants’ species inhabited there but has also endangered the existence of endemic birds’ species and myriad species of animals.

It is also important to note that the danger of extinction of species; faced by Cape Floral is caused by habitat loss hence migration of species, invasion by alien plants and land degradation. Aside from the fact that the population of species in cape Floral region is said to be amongst the highest in the world, there has also been growth in human population which calls for the expansion of settlements. In the process of paving way for settlement, deforestation occurs leading, to drier and warmer conditions and is also a major contributing factor to global warming. In conclusion, it is clear that environmental changes, whether natural or human-facilitated, are the major threats to the existence of world heritage sites; among them being deforestation which is an act of human destruction of vegetation, invasive species which end up clearing the water of a habitat and suffocating the other species and soil erosion; hence leading to deaths and extinction.

Similarly, glacier melting has disastrous effects on both plants, animals and human beings at large. However, it is clear that governments in authority have made efforts to curb these situations in order to maintain the statuses of the world heritage sites in question. Reference Centre, UNESCO world Heritage. “The Criteria for Selection. ” Is this Cause for Consent Koodoe African Protected Areas Conservation and Science. Pollard. R; Pevsner. N; (2006); The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Liverpool and the South west. New Haven & London Tale University Press. Canningham,C. G, Zartman,R. E, Mokee, E. H, Rye, R. O, Naeser, C. com/news/world. latin. america. Accessed November 30, 2016. Foster, T. dw. com/en/police-battle-protesting-potosi-miners-in-bolivian-capital/a-18602802 Accessed November 29 2016 Janssen,M. A & Scheffer. M (2004), Overexploitation of renewable resources by ancient societies and the role of sunk-cost efforts.

Ecology and Society 9(1): 6 https://www. cgi?article=1392&context=ripl United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites: Cape Floral Region Protected Areas; https://whc. unesco. org/en/list/1007 Accessed May 2010.