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The Jasper fire highlights the risks climate change poses to Canada’s world heritage sites
By Ali Asgary, Professor, Disaster & Emergency Management, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies & Director, CIFAL York, York University, Canada,
While all wildfires that cause damage or loss of life are tragic, the damage to such a globally renowned site makes the Jasper wildfire unique in the context of Canadian wildfire events. Wood Buffalo National Park was affected by fire in 2023 , however, that fire was not on the scale that we have seen in Jasper.
The catastrophic Jasper fire highlights the vulnerability of Canada’s UNESCO World Heritage sites to the dual threat of climate change and extreme weather events, particularly wildfires.
Becoming recognized
Becoming a UNESCO world heritage site is a recognition only a few places around the world have achieved. Sites are chosen for the natural, cultural or historic values, and the program aims to protect them while providing benefits to visitors and local residents.
“priceless and irreplaceable assets, not only of each nation, but of humanity as a whole. The loss, through deterioration or disappearance of any of these most prized assets constitutes an impoverishment of the heritage of all the peoples of the world.”
A world heritage site can be removed from the list or be listed as heritage in danger if the site is lost, threatened, or the country or jurisdiction that manages the site proves unable to address threats to its integrity.
The Jasper wildfire indicates that Canada may be increasingly unable to fully protect its world heritage sites from wildfire — despite decades of accumulated knowledge as to the growing problems wildfires will pose in a warming world .
For now, the town of Jasper will rebuild, but can we effectively protect the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, and other Canadian sites like it, in the future? Unfortunately, this seems an unlikely goal.
RCMP drone footage showing the scale of the devastation in Jasper.
Focusing on droughts and wildfires, we know that climate change has increased both the length and intensity of these events . Droughts also drastically change the character of the natural parks and contribute to more wildfire events — among other impacts, such as loss of biodiversity and habitat degradation.
Decades of evidence and modelling has become a tragic lived experience in Jasper. The threats to Canada’s world heritage sites, and the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks in particular, are myriad and require an entirely different approach from what has come before.
New approach needed
The Jasper fire demonstrated that existing federal and provincial level fire management strategies, focusing on prescribed burning and fire suppression , are insufficient to the task at hand.
Many of Canada’s world heritage sites are at an increasing risk of wildfire in a warming world. It is essential that protecting Canada’s world heritage sites from fire be a key component of any national wildfire strategy.
More generally, our efforts and resources should be directed towards how we can most effectively respond to extreme weather and fire to protect heritage sites while also mitigating the impacts of climate change on these sites.
Ultimately, protecting Canada’s, and the world’s, heritage sites from climate change requires both urgent action and the recognition that the loss of even just one of these sites is a tragedy for all humanity.
Ali Asgary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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