Climate Risk Assessment for the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site

Climate change is the fastest growing global threat to World Heritage (WH). Many WH properties around the world are already experiencing signifcant negative impacts, damage and degradation. These and many others are vulnerable to climate impacts, including from rising temperatures, sea level rise, extreme precipitation, fooding, coastal erosion, drought, worsening wildfres, and human displacement, and will be at risk in the future. Recently observed trends are expected to continue and accelerate as climate change intensifes. This report describes outcomes from a workshop in Orkney, Scotland (April 2019) to apply the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI). The CVI is a new methodology developed to rapidly assess climate impacts – both to Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and the associated ‘community’ (local, domestic and international) – for all types of WH properties (natural, cultural or mixed). In its frst application to a cultural WH property, the CVI process was undertaken for the ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney’ (HONO).