Editorial for the special issue on “securing future of heritage by reducing risks and building resilience”

Huge loss of cultural heritage due to devastating earthquakes in Central Mexico in 2017, central Italy and Myanmar in 2016, and Nepal in 2015 further brought forward the need to undertake immediate measures to mitigate such a massive loss to heritage due to disasters. [...]recent conflicts have also caused enormous damage to cultural heritage in places such as Syria and Iraq. Climate change has also been exacerbating the vulnerability of cultural heritage. Since 1988, at least 76 per cent of all disasters have been induced by hydrological and meteorological hazards; only in 2018 there had been ten climate–induced disasters, each causing a damage of over US$1bn (Christian Aid, 2018). The IPCC (2012) special report on managing the risks of extreme weather events to advance climate change adaptation confirms the likelihood of their increased frequency and intensity in the future, suggesting that the number as well as the scale of weather-related hazards may thereby increase risks to cultural heritage. [...]abnormally high temperatures, rising water levels and changing levels of moisture in some regions constitute underlying risk factors that can affect heritage. Besides loss to the material fabric, disasters also affect intangible heritage including traditional knowledge, practices, skills and crafts that ensure continuity of living cultural heritage as well as means for its maintenance and conservation.