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Does climate change threaten the future of world heritage sites?

19 July 2019

Orkney’s Skara Brae has been standing for nearly 5,000 years.

But the Head of Technical Research and Science at Historic Environment Scotland, Ewan Hyslop, believes that climate change will place the settlement at risk of damage.

“The threat here is very real. The global projections for sea level rise are quite astonishing: by 2100, the sea level around most of the planet could be a metre higher than it is now.”

Were it not for existing flood defences around Skara Brae, he continued, “we would [already] have lost up to two thirds of the site.”

The Nine visited Orkney to learn about the risk of climate change impacting world heritage sites.

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