Cultural heritage and natural disasters

The ICOMOS Heritage at Risk series, which began publication in 2000 and is now also available over the internet, makes evident that many monuments and sites all over the world are endangered by natural disasters, wars and ethnic conflicts, barbaric acts of destruction, pillage, uncontrolled urban development and general environmental pollution, as well as by neglect, inappropriate restoration and many other factors. This special volume of Heritage at Risk deals exclusively with natural disasters, a subject of particular relevance in view of the threat to our cultural heritage by global climate change. This publication is the outcome of the conference „Cultural Heritage and Natural Disasters—Risk Preparedness and the Limits of Prevention“, organized by ICOMOS Germany within the framework of the Leipzig Messe’s European Conservation Fair „denkmal 2006“, in cooperation with ICCROM (International Center for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and the Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen (KNK, Conference of National Cultural Institutions).