Assessing the inundation risk of cultural heritages along the southwestern coast of Taiwan: present and future

Heritage sites in coastal areas are increasingly at risk from inundation hazards due to land subsidence, pluvial floods, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise. In this study, we evaluated the seven relatively well-preserved cultural heritage sites on the southwestern coast of Taiwan threatened by inun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional environmental change 2024-06, Vol.24 (2), p.56, Article 56
Main Authors: Su, Wen-Ray, Chen, Yu-Hua, Fu, Huei-Shuin, Chang, Tzu-Yin, Chen, Wei-Bo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Climate Change
Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts
Coastal erosion
Coastal zone
Coasts
Cultural heritage
Cultural resources
Earth and Environmental Science
Emission
Emissions
Environment
Flooding
Floods
Geography
Historic sites
Land subsidence
Nature Conservation
Oceanography
Original Article
Regional/Spatial Science
Risk
Sea level
Sea level rise
Soil erosion
Steering
Subsidence
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Summary:Heritage sites in coastal areas are increasingly at risk from inundation hazards due to land subsidence, pluvial floods, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise. In this study, we evaluated the seven relatively well-preserved cultural heritage sites on the southwestern coast of Taiwan threatened by inundation risks resulting from current land subsidence, pluvial floods, coastal erosion, and future rising sea levels by 2050 and 2100. We applied a high-resolution hydrodynamic model to project coastal inundation zones caused by sea-level rise. Here, we show that of the seven most well-preserved cultural heritage sites in low-lying coastal areas of the southwestern coast of Taiwan, all seven are at risk from existing land subsidence, three from current coastal erosion, and six from the pluvial flooding. Regarding sea-level rise inundation risks, only one cultural heritage site is simulated to be threatened by 2050, even in the highest emission scenario. However, the one, two, and seven relatively well-preserved cultural heritage sites would be inundated by 2100 once sea-level rises of the lowest, medium, and highest emission scenarios are imposed on the coastal flood model. Our results provide a primary assessment of where adaptation is most imperatively needed and can support policymakers in steering local-scale research to devise appropriate adaptation strategies for each coastal heritage site in Taiwan.
ISSN:1436-3798
1436-378X
DOI:10.1007/s10113-024-02204-9