Tino Mager, University of Groningen
This lead-in article introduces Blue Paper's Special Issue on "Water Management in World Heritage Sites at a Time of Climate Change." For more details and to submit your paper, please follow this link.
Introduction
Cultural World Heritage properties are always related to water, as they would not exist without appropriate water management that enabled their construction and preservation. In arid climates or floodplains, people needed to ensure the supply of water and protection from its abundance. In addition, the continued use of the World Heritage properties requires a balanced water situation to provide livable conditions for people, but also to ensure the functionality and longevity of the sites. The changing climatic conditions that we are increasingly confronted with (ECMWF, 2024) threaten cultural properties by water shortages, drought, flooding or damage to foundations, for example.
Dealing with these threats requires sustainable adaptations in water management and comprehensive strategies for developing these adaptations. To date, water management plans have not been included in World Heritage nominations or in the management plans required for inscribed properties since 2005 (UNESCO, 2005; see also UNESCO, 2013 and Ringbeck, 2008). However, they could help to conserve World Heritage sites better by ensuring water supply and protection from water. As water problems continue to increase, appropriate water management can help to strengthen the resilience of the sites and support their long-term operation.
Part of the solution lies within the heritage sites themselves. Many World Heritage properties explicitly relate to water, as they were created to provide or treat water, utilize water for various purposes or protect against it, for example, pumping stations, dams, polder areas or even historic water management systems. These sites contain valuable information on the history of water management and on strategies that have proved their worth over long periods of time. Exploring them can help to understand these historical strategies, as well as inspire the development of methods for making informed decisions about today's water-related challenges. The integration of water management with a view to the best possible conservation of the World Heritage sites is therefore very much needed and has a twofold aspect: it must aim to ensure the preservation of sites in the face of climate change, and it must, where possible, preserve or adapt them in line with understanding of the historical aspects of water management. This integration of water and heritage can help professionals develop solutions that work sustainably and that can inspire water management beyond the World Heritage.
To stimulate further work on this topic, this article briefly introduces the relationship between World Heritage and water and highlights the need for incorporating water management planning into World Heritage management. It argues that water is the ultimate link between the local and global dimensions of World Heritage sites and between their past, present and future. Through the example of three German case studies, it provides insights into different relationships between World Heritage sites and water management, emphasizes the importance of water management and highlights current and emerging challenges.
World Heritage and Water: Multi-faceted Relationships
Even if various World Heritage sites have individual relationships with water at a local level, climate change is increasingly placing these relationships in relation to global phenomena in an interconnected system. The water-related challenges for World Heritage sites must be assessed individually, but they can be summarized into certain categories that are common to a large number of sites. While the World Heritage List recognizes a strict separation between cultural and natural sites with different responsibilities of the advisory bodies (ICOMOS and IUCN), attempts in recent years have aimed to soften this separation and to incorporate considerations that bridge the gap between nature and culture. The Nature-Culture Journey at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress and the establishment of an International Scientific Committee on Water and Heritage by ICOMOS can be seen as efforts to close this artificial gap and create a more comprehensive understanding of cultural heritage sites and their intertwinement with a complex natural system. Also, the field of hydraulic engineering is beginning to take an interest in the historic aspects of water management, as demonstrated by an increasing number of sessions on water heritage at international conferences.
Water-related World Heritage
Beyond the institutional level, the solid relationships between water and heritage at the sites themselves make any conceptual separation between culture and nature seem inconsistent. These include, in particular, World Heritage Sites with an explicit connection to water, such as the Augsburg water management system. Listed in 2019, it consists of 22 objects, including a historic water-powered cooling system, weirs, wells, canals and waterworks (Fig. 1). These objects connect the city, its inhabitants and local industry with the surrounding area in a larger natural system. The ingenious management of water resources has helped the city to prosper for centuries and emphasizes the importance of the relationship between culture and nature. Inscribed on the World Heritage list specifically for its water management system, Augsburg naturally plays a key role in emphasizing the importance of water management in World Heritage Sites. The City of Augsburg provides numerous publications on the singular objects and their functions.
Other World Heritage sites represent different types of water-related heritage, such as distribution and drainage (The Persian Qanat, the Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout), or making use of water for industrial purposes (Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System), military purposes (Dutch Water Defence Lines), trade and exchange (Venice and its Lagoon, Canal du Midi), agriculture (Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras), and leisure and health (The Great Spa Towns of Europe). So far, their common challenges have not been addressed as a uniting and compelling issue for World Heritage sites and their managers. Research, exchange and education in the field of water management at World Heritage sites are urgently needed and will only become more significant in the future.
The sites mentioned above are prime examples of sustainable water management. They illustrate its specific forms and show what has worked well in particular places and contexts. Researching these sites can help to understand which solutions have worked over a long period of time and under certain circumstances and how these lessons may be relevant today. Even examples that tell of the failure in long-term water management, such as Angkor Wat, an extensive 12th-century temple complex in the historical Khmer kingdom (Fig. 2), offer valuable insights. The empire perished as a result of the collapse of the water supply in the 14th century, and the site reveals the complexity of the relationship between culture and nature and helps us to better understand the interdependencies (Prasad, 2020). Historical insights like these are an important basis for developing new water management strategies. Today's changing climatic conditions make it necessary to adapt historical systems so that they continue to function, but also so that they are sufficient to meet current or future needs.
Water challenges at World Heritage Sites
In addition to World Heritage sites with outstanding universal value related to water and water management, a number of sites are increasingly facing water-related problems. For example, the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, located in Germany's most water-rich federal state and surrounded by lakes, is increasingly threatened by dry periods and declining water tables. As a result, almost 80% of the trees in the Sanssouci World Heritage site are damaged, and 160 to 300 trees have to be felled every year (UNESCO-Welterbestätten, 2024). Changing precipitation patterns make this a widespread problem across Europe and call for effective solutions. If sufficient water cannot be provided through adapted management, significant changes, such as the introduction of more resistant plant species, will lead to a different character of the historic parks.
While a large number of World Heritage properties are affected by drought, an abundance of water is also a serious challenge, as more than 20% of World Heritage sites worldwide are affected by river flooding (Arrighi, 2021). These problems go beyond the physical boundaries of the heritage sites, as water cannot be managed in isolated areas. Droughts and flooding are related to the climate but also to large-scale infrastructure planning and, in many cases, can only be tackled at a regional or even international level—if at all. When increasing flooding can no longer be tamed by flood defenses, site managers must also take structural measures to protect the properties as far as possible in the event of flooding, and they must develop strategies to mitigate droughts.
Water-related hazards not only damage or change sites, but they can even jeopardize a site’s World Heritage title if they are not adequately protected (Gerard-Sharp, 2017). A look at the 56 properties on the World Heritage in Danger list also reveals that, following armed conflict, water issues are a major factor threatening the survival of the sites. These issues include the loss of aquatic life, siltation, flooding or the building of reservoirs.
Water management for (the) future (of) World Heritage properties
More than ever before, site managers are required to incorporate water aspects into the preservation and operation concept. Maria Estefania Gioia has pointed out the necessity to acknowledge water management for the Mantua and Sabbioneta World Heritage Sites. This aligns with a need to understand World Heritage as “a process influenced by social, environmental and economic dynamics” (Gioia, 2022) and requires more understanding of the systemic integration of cultural heritage sites. However, examples of good practice are scarce because the problem has not yet been sufficiently recognized. The World Heritage Canopy, a platform of strategies combining heritage conservation and sustainable development, still includes very few water-related projects (UNESCO 2024b). While UNESCO's Urban Heritage Atlas brings water into the picture (e.g., the Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata in Mauritania) and demonstrates its importance for the preservation of specific properties (UNESCO 2024c), none of them addresses the question of water specifically, instead, they speak more generally of environmental and climate change conditions.
UNESCO's support for education for sustainable development and the resulting educational concepts, such as the E-learning curriculum series on water management at World Heritage sites, provide relevant water knowledge and can be seen in the light of raised awareness for water issues within heritage sites (UNESCO, 2024a). Exchange and education on this topic are key to the introduction of such measures.
A comprehensive consideration of water aspects is not only relevant for existing sites, but can also help to better assess the values and vulnerabilities of potential World Heritage sites and to designate the attributes that convey the values. A better understanding of the water relationships and challenges associated with World Heritage can help to promote the integration of water management into the required site management plans. Such integration will prove useful as water-related climate variability increases. Unfortunately, UNESCO has not yet fully recognized this importance, as indicated by its 2023 Policy Document on Climate Action for World Heritage (UNESCO 2023). While the importance of researching and documenting water management techniques to support climate science is emphasized, the document does not address the necessity of water management plans for the sites.
In many cases, water management was an integral part of the historic sites but was not recognized as essential to their heritage. Could, for example, better research into Sanssouci's extensive but today defunct historic water supply system and its recognition as an essential part of the estate help to improve the park's ecological situation? Sound water management can certainly support the preservation of World Heritage sites and help them become beacons for inspiring strategies to address water challenges beyond heritage, especially as these challenges grow.
Conclusion
The risk assessment of World Heritage sites and changing weather patterns show that the integration of water management is crucial for the sustainable conservation of a large number of cultural heritage sites, including cultural landscapes. The article confirms the growing awareness of the need for water management plans and encourages further research and communication on this topic. It can be seen as a call for further research that aims to stimulate an ongoing international exchange on this topic, eventually leading to the creation of guidelines for water management integration and further studies. It may also play a key role in the future integration of water management into the management plans of World Heritage sites, as these plans currently do not adequately address climate and water-related threats. Monument preservation and climate protection are intertwined. In this respect, water management plans represent a useful step towards an integrated sustainability plan.
This blog is adapted from an article submitted for the upcoming Blue Papers journal, Vol. 3, No. 2.
Acknowledgments
This contribution was peer-reviewed. It was edited by members of the editorial team of the UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities: Carola Hein and Kaiyi Zhu, as well as PCF Blog Editor Yi Kwan Chan.
About the Author
Tino Mager is Assistant Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Groningen and President of ICOMOS Germany. Previously, he worked at the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment at Delft University of Technology, and was a fellow of the Leibniz Association and the University of Queensland. He studied media technology in Leipzig and art history and communication science in Berlin, Barcelona and Tokyo. Tino is Secretary General of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Water and Heritage and has published widely on cultural heritage.
Contact: tino.mager@rug.nl
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