Committee: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO)
Country : Republic of Korea
Topic : IMPROVING STRATEGY TO PROTECT WORLD HERITAGE CAUSED
BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Our World Heritage is the first to be threatened by climate change, especially those of
our World Heritage sites. As of January 2019, one out of four UNESCO World Heritage
Sites are under threat by climate change. Climate changes, such as the increased of
humidity, the rising of sea levels and other factors, are increasing the pressure on our
century and millennia-old structures that have been the symbols of permanence throughout
known history. These are manifested by, among others, the increasing sea levels and
higher-than-average waves around Polynesia which are currently eroding the world famous
Moai monoliths in the Chilean Island of Rapa Nui.

Aside from the cultural heritage sites, our natural heritage is not an exemption. The
increased ocean temperature and acidification pose a threat to our marine biodiversity:
many marine World Heritage sites are tropical coral reefs whose exposure to bleaching
events is increasing, possibly leading to massive extinction of coral reefs. The increase of
atmospheric temperature is also leading to the melting of glaciers worldwide (in both
mountainous and Polar Regions). CNN says that, “From the sinking city of Venice to the
mass bleaching of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, climate change is drastically impacting
some of the world's most treasured heritage sites. To date, over 1,000 bucket-list locations
have earned a spot on UNESCO's World Heritage list on account of their "outstanding
universal value" to humanity. But, if the world continues to warm, many of these landmarks
may lose some of those "outstanding" values or even cease to exist at all.”

To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, countries adopted
the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris, which went into force in November of 2016. In
the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2
degrees centigrade. As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 10
developing countries had submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for
responding to climate change. Developed country parties continue to make progress
towards the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion annually by 2020 for mitigation actions.

Aside from awareness and conventions-turned-into-actions endeavors of the

Committee for the past years, UNESCO has recently supported and joined in the ongoing
project of United Nations Environment Programme in taking its #ClimateAction by saving
our forests, for deforestation is the 2nd-leading cause of climate change and accounts for
nearly 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate observations states that there has been widespread warming over the Republic
of Korea since 1960. There has been a general increase in summer temperatures averaged
over the country as a result of human influence on climate, making the occurrence of warm
summer temperatures more frequent and cold summer temperatures less frequent. Plus,
estimates of future cyclone damage in the Republic of Korea are highly uncertain due to the
small size of the country and the limited resolutions of the climate models used to simulate
shifts in tropical-cyclone tracks under climate change which could highly endanger the
country’s World Heritage sites.

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 Amidst to all of these issues, the Republic of Korea believes that addressing climate
change does not place a burden but provides opportunities to create future drivers of growth.
As such, Korea has actively engaged in efforts to tackle climate change. In 2009, Korea
announced its voluntary mitigation target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% from
the business-as-usual (BAU) level by 2020. It has also enacted the Framework Act on Low
Carbon, Green Growth in 2011 to provide the legal basis for climate policies and actions.
The Framework Act was followed by important measures across all sectors, including the
GHG and Energy Target Management System (TMS) (2012), National Greenhouse Gas
Emissions Reduction Roadmap (2014), Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) (2014) and
National Climate Change Adaptation Plans (2010, 2015).

Korea has been a home of historical sites that our government tends to protect and
preserve. We can no longer do as much to our cultural and natural heritage as they already
are vulnerable to the tremendous projected effects of climate change. So our government is
in more of reducing the impacts of climate change in our world heritage. The following is the
brief list of the measures we propose to further strictly implement in lieu to the protection of
the Republic’s world heritage which has long been a part of our history:

1. Formulation or passing of Laws regulating all car or equipment manufactures to shift

from gasoline and diesel fuel to bio-fuel. The Republic of Korea considers biofuel to be
carbon-neutral because the plants that are the sources for making it, such as soybeans
and palm oil trees, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. The absorption of carbon
dioxide by these plants offsets the carbon dioxide that forms while making and burning
it.

2. Strict implementation of solid waste management. Solid waste is considered one of

the most vulnerable deltas to climate change in the world. Suitable treatment options
such as landfill, should be applied together with other solutions for reuse, recycling and
reduction of solid waste as well as pollution prevention issue. We considered an
integrated solid waste management approach in adaptation to climate change
necessary.

3. Unity of state and nations in upholding and implementing environmental Laws. As an

active participant of the climate change negotiations, the Republic of Korea has
endeavored to contribute to the successful launch of the new climate regime.
Throughout the climate change negotiation process, it has played a bridging role
between developed and developing countries, considering in a balanced manner both
the historical responsibilities of the developed countries and the increasing trend of
emissions for the developing countries.

4. Strictly reduce the production of nuclear weapons. Continuing to emit greenhouse

gases would result in a global average surface temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius,
according to the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
assessment. Its potential outcome could be the destruction of human habitat.

The Republic of Korea will continue domestic efforts to implement the Paris Agreement
and to address climate change. At the same time, it will play an active part in the global
efforts to ensure that the successful implementation of the agreement, constructively
participating in the follow-up negotiations for the Paris Agreement.

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Reference:

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