According to a recent analysis, some of the most important UNESCO World Heritage sites are at great risk from climate change. These include 21 sites in the USA.

The report, prepared by climate risk analysis firm Climate X, highlights the vulnerability of 500 UNESCO sites around the world, focusing on those most at risk by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the analysis, Everglades National Park in Florida is the most vulnerable place in the United States and is exposed to a range of climate hazards, including coastal flooding, tropical cyclones, extreme heat, drought and storm surges.

Olympic National Park in Washington is also one of the 50 most at-risk locations due to the risk of river and surface flooding as well as landslides.

“The potential impacts of climate change on these sites are profound. But it’s not just our past heritage that’s at risk – so is our present,” said Lukky Ahmed, CEO and co-founder of Climate X, in a statement.

Globally, Sansa, a cluster of ancient Buddhist mountain monasteries on the Korean peninsula, tops the list of places most at risk from climate change. The report identified river and surface flooding as the main threat to these monasteries, some of which date back to the seventh century.

Other high-risk locations include Australia’s Sydney Opera House, the Indonesian cultural landscape of Bali, the Chinese cultural landscape of West Lake in Hangzhou and the western Norwegian fjords in Norway.

“The loss of these cultural treasures – many of which have survived for thousands of years – would of course be devastating. At the same time, however, it is also important to remember that the real social and economic impacts of climate change are already being felt here and now,” said Ahmed.

Climate X co-founder Kamil Kluza stressed the urgency of the situation, saying: Newsweek: “I think the message is that the risks are there and that we need to actively work on them.

“This means that we need to allocate investment budgets and set aside money for both climate change adaptation and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere.”

The report was produced using Climate X’s Spectra platform, which uses sophisticated algorithms to model the future likelihood of 16 different climate hazards – including extreme heat, tropical cyclones and floods – under eight warming scenarios over a 100-year period.

Each site was assigned a risk score ranging from A (no risk) to F (high risk) based on the predicted percentage of total loss.

Sites in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were excluded from the analysis because Climate X does not yet cover these regions. Other sites were excluded because they were considered low-risk.

In total, UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – recognizes 1,223 World Heritage sites around the world.

There are 26 World Heritage sites in the USA, including Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks.

In response to the report, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre stated: Newsweek that the organization was not involved in the analysis and has no information on the methodology used.

“UNESCO is not in a position to comment on this at this time,” the center said.

Ahmed concluded by calling on governments, conservationists and the global community to make the protection of these sites a top priority.

“Our findings are a stark warning to governments, conservationists and the global community. They must make protecting our planet a top priority – preserving our ancient monuments and our current assets and infrastructure – and protecting life today and in the future,” he said.

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