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Harmonizing World Heritage and Climate Measures. The Case of Lake Baikal. Page 13-17 in the World Heritage Watch Report
Abstract and Figures
It is often overlooked that haphazard human activities allegedly directed towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change may present a threat to natural heritage. Lack of coordination between different environmental objectives results in proposing projects for technological solutions in climate change mitigation, which may severely compromise values of World Heritage sites. Civil Society has important role in highlighting these contradictions and making governments and conventions' secretariats undertake efforts for removing particular threats and harmonizing overall policies. Without involvement of concerned citizens, bureaucracies and business alike are likely to use "climate change rhetoric" to advance large infrastructure and energy projects and have too many incentives to overlook threats those projects present to natural ecosystems.
Many World Heritage sites are threatened by hydropower projects and other water infrastructure. For example, Lake Turkana (Kenya) and Lake Baikal (Russia) are both threatened by hydrological changes due to construction of large hydropower listed in countries' NDCs. "Landscapes of Dauria" (Mongolia and Russia) is threatened by proposal for interbasin water diversion from Onon to Ulz river framed as "climate adaptation" measure.
So far in the case of Lake Baikal the exposure of hydropower projects as threat to World Heritage resulted in considerable reluctance on the part of investors: China EximBank backed out of Egiin Gol Hydro and redistributed its loan to other less risky projects in Mongolia. Other investors are not in a hurry to commit funds to this questionable cause. Despite this large hydro is heading the list of projects in Mongolia's NDCs. Mongolia still lists Egiin Gol hydropower plant among projects that should start construction works in 2018.
Formal coordination mechanism between World Heritage convention, Bonn convention, and other biodiversity conservation conventions on one side and the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is highly advisable to harmonize their activities and ensure that adaptation and mitigation measures do not have any harmful impacts on World Heritage Sites.
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Mantle-derived serpentinites have been detected at magma-poor rifted margins and above subduction zones, where they are usually produced by fluids released from the slab to the mantle wedge. Here we show evidence of a new class of serpentinite diapirs within the external subduction system of the Calabrian Arc, derived directly from the lower plate. Mantle serpentinites rise through lithospheric faults caused by incipient rifting and the collapse of the accretionary wedge. Mantle-derived diapirism is not linked directly to subduction processes. The serpentinites, formed probably during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting, were carried below the subduction system by plate convergence; lithospheric faults driving margin segmentation act as windows through which inherited serpentinites rise to the sub-seafloor. The discovery of deep-seated seismogenic features coupled with inherited lower plate serpentinite diapirs, provides constraints on mechanisms exposing altered products of mantle peridotite at the seafloor long time after their formation.
Salinization of coastal groundwater systems
causes a severe deterioration both in amount and quality of
fresh groundwater resources. To support the sustainable
use and management of fresh groundwater, quantification
and characterization of these coastal resources are important
in view of the population growth anticipated in many
African countries. Analytical methods were used to determine:
(1) the shape and volume of the freshwater lens, (2)
the elevation of the water table, (3) the depth of the
freshwater/saltwater interface in the Shela aquifer, and (4)
the expected change of volume resulting from change of
recharge and sea level rise driven by climate change. The
results of the analytical modelling have shown that the
average hydraulic conductivity is 0.755 m/d, the average
water table elevation is 2 m above sea level and the average
depth of the freshwater/saltwater interface is -
80 m.a.s.l. The volume of the aquifer is &124 9 106 m3
when discharge from the Shela well field is factored in.
Climate change is expected to have an impact on the
recharge and ultimately the aquifer’s volume; under the
A1b conditions, the volume is expected to increase to
199 9 106 m3 whereas in the A2 scenario it is expected to
decrease to 27 9 106 m3. The saltwater intrusion indicator
M for today’s conditions (0.004) decreases to 0.5 M in the
A1b scenario by 2100 whilst it increases to 24.9 M in the
A2 scenario for the same time period, indicating an
extremely higher vulnerability to saltwater intrusion in the
latter scenario. A simple linear correlation with the
expected population growth of 1.25 million people by 2050
shows the aquifer failing as a water source by 2033.
The purpose of this study is to find a solution for the groundwater uprising in Al-Fustat area – Old Cairo, Egypt. A 3-D finite Difference Model (Visual MODFLOW-Ver. 3.1) has been used to simulate the impact of different alternative solutions in order to select the best suitable one. The result of geophysical survey, twenty bore holes data, hydro-geological data and satellite images were used to construct and calibrate the numerical model of Al-Fustat city. Finally, the recommended solution is a combination of pumping wells and tile drains. The results of this solution indicate that using pumping rate of 200 m3/day achieves 2–3 m drawdown which meets the target.
This paper is based on fieldwork which I carried out in Sindh, Pakistan, from December 2007 to February 2008. The main objective of the study was to document and delineate two graveyards and their contents which are located in two different districts of Sindh, one in Thatta and the other in Tando Muhammad Khan. After discussing the origin of the term ‘chaukhandi’ as applied to a type of tombs present in the area I present the two graveyards, discussing the meanings of motifs that decorate the tombstones in both places. I also discuss the role of the tribes associated with these graveyards in the tribal history of Sindh and the battles in which they displayed their heroism.
Keywords: chaukhandi, Sindh, tombstone decoration, tribal history
On October 12, 1992, a moderate earthquake occurred near Dahshur, Egypt, about 20 km south of Cairo. The intensity of ground shaking at historic districts of Cairo was VI to VII using the Modified Mercalli scale and 212 of 560 monuments in Cairo were reportedly damaged although none destroyed. Damage to historic monuments can be generally described as having resulted from the continuous degradation of foundation and structural masonry from environmental effects, especially groundwater, inadequate lateral structural resistance, and the subsequent imposition of light to moderate earthquake forces. Other large earthquakes have affected old monuments in Cairo, but the recent earthquake may have caused a disproportionate amount of damage because of wide-spread poor structural conditions. This study provides specific examples of how monuments ranging from 80 to about 1500 years in age, in various conditions, respond to near-field motions from a moderate-magnitude earthquake and helps to define problems that research studies can solve. It also provides strong evidence that a preservation strategy be adopted for historic monuments in Cairo that embraces scientific and engineering knowledge to understand these monuments and propose the least invasive repair and retrofit procedures.
The Forest of Symbols Embodied in the Tholung Sacred Landscape of North Sikkim
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20171212/106736/HHRG-115-II06-Wstate-TilousiC-20171212.pdf
References
Arora, V and others, 2006, 'The Forest of Symbols Embodied in the Tholung
Sacred Landscape of North Sikkim, India', Conservation and Society 4 (1),
pp.55.
Advisory Body Evaluation for Khangchendzonga National park
ICOMOS, 2016, Advisory Body Evaluation for Khangchendzonga National park.
An Egyptian woman prepares a meal next to a mausoleum. She has lived in this room in Cairo's City of the Dead for 40 years
- M El-Ghany
WHC Periodic Reporting Cycle 2014, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1024/
documents/
References
Abd El-Ghany, M., n.d. An Egyptian woman prepares a meal next to a
mausoleum. She has lived in this room in Cairo's City of the Dead for 40
years. [image online] Available at: <http://images.nationalgeographic.
com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/340/cache/ egypt-city-of-the-dead-el-ara-fa_34051_600x450.jpg> [Accessed 17 July 2016].