Understanding and assessing climate change risk to Cultural Heritage: the Climate Vulnerability Index applied to the Caribbean Forts
| The Caribbean is one of the most hazard prone regions in the world, and its cultural heritage is particular vulnerable to hurricanes and heavy rains, increased in frequency and intensity due to climate change. The proposed session will focus on how to apply the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) methodology to identify and determine the most appropriate mitigation measures to be integrated into cultural heritage rehabilitation projects in the Caribbean, in order to ensure that the final design fulfills with the existing standards in terms of structural stability. The session will present two case studies of World Bank funded projects, targeting the rehabilitation of two Fortifications, built in the 17TH century, in the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and in Grenada, which current state of conservation shows damages due to a lack of resilience to these events: 1) Design and Supervision of the rehabilitation of Fort Charlotte. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 2) Structural Assessments, Detail Designs and Supervision of Rehabilitation Works for Fort George. Grenada Both projects are within a World Bank broader framework, looking to settle the basis to improve the competitiveness of the tourism sector within the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) region. The CVI is a rapid assessment tool that has been specifically developed for application to World Heritage properties. The CVI framework builds upon the vulnerability framework approach described in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Vulnerability of OUV (Outstanding Universal Value) is determined by assessing the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with respect to determined climate drivers. The OUV Vulnerability becomes the exposure term to assess the vulnerability of the community associated with the property, combining with assessments of economic-social¬cultural dependency (sensitivity) and adaptive capacity. Undertaking this assessment requires following particular steps, which are marked by the identification of Potential Impacts, calculation of the OUV Vulnerability and finally obtain a Community Vulnerability index. The main purpose of this methodology is to provide a guide or procedure for designers to follow in order to ensure they have an overall understanding of the risk faced by cultural sites, so the final design proposed covers all the different disciplines these projects involve. The new way of perceiving Cultural Heritage rehabilitation, requires the design to ensure the safety of their users and therefore, understand and communicate the existing risks. The session will consists of an initial interactive activity to understand the Climate Vulnerability `Index followed by the presentation of the two case studies. The session will include Q&A and will conclude with a quick review of the World Bank actions in terms of communicating risk to cultural heritage and new opportunities to strengthen resilience of heritage sites and communities. |
Organizer: INES Ingenieros Consultores S.L.
Partner Organizations: World Bank, GFDRR, ICCROM
