The impact of global warming has become the “biggest threat” to Britain’s heritage, a report from the National Trust, the main body responsible for managing historic and natural sites in the UK, warned on Monday.
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According to this report, floods, fires and extreme weather events such as storms will threaten almost three quarters of the sites managed by the National Trust by 2060.
Patrick Begg, director of natural resources at the National Trust, said climate change required “urgent and ongoing attention” as it had become “the biggest threat to the places we care about”.
In a press release, he cited in particular the two recent storms Babet and Ciaran, which caused significant damage, or the heat records that were regularly broken.
The body, which manages 28,500 buildings, 250,000 hectares of land and 1,255 kilometers of coastline between England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is calling on the government to financially support organizations like its own to adapt to climate change to protect this heritage.
She also calls for the adoption of a “climate resilience” law that would set targets for adapting to the new climate situation.
Climate change risks highlighted in the report include, in particular, coastal erosion, which is causing several iconic castles of Britain’s heritage to collapse.
Last year, the public body English Heritage warned in particular about Tintagel in Cornwall, where King Arthur was born.
The report also discusses the work being done with farmers in the Yorkshire Dales region (northern England) to adapt their land by restoring peatlands and planting trees.
Another example: In the Lake District, a national park in northwest England, the National Trust is redesigning the meanders of the Goldrill Beck river to combat flooding.