Climate change could cause “irreversible (不可逆的) damage” to the world’s most precious ancient monuments (古迹) and other cultural sites,experts warned on Saturday as they pushed for the United Nations (UN) protection for major global sites.
Academics gathered in Athens for a meeting on the threats to world heritage calling for tools to predict, measure and counter the effects of climate change.They are campaigning to have the issue included on the agenda (议程) at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
Scientists have recently expressed concern regarding the effects of climate change on ancient Greek monuments, including those on the Acropolis in Greece. The extreme weather phenomena seen in recent years,as well as air pollution and acid rain,have created problems in the walls and temples of the Acropolis.
Dimitrios Pandermalis, director of the city’s Acropolis Museum, said that while environmental damage has always been a challenge for monuments, these threats are getting worse.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in October that warming was on track towards a 3 ℃ or 4 ℃ rise,and that avoiding global chaos would require a major change. “Climate change is not only a threat to our future,but also to our heritage, both natural and cultural,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The Athens meeting called for improved tools to help evaluate the threat from climate change and mitigate risks, like threat maps based on climatic projections.
The meeting stressed the challenges in preserving underwater heritage such as shipwrecks. The Head of the Research Centre for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology at the Academy of Athens warned that “with man-made global warming everything will become more acid in the atmosphere as well as in the seas,” threatening undersea monuments.
The meeting was jointly hosted by the Greek government,the UN and the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO.
【小题1】Why did experts have a meeting in Athens?| A．To study traditional architecture. |
| B．To name the most precious world heritage. |
| C．To make efforts to protect world heritage. |
| D．To celebrate the discovery of a monument. |
| A．It is at risk of being damaged. |
| B．It isn’t valued by the government. |
| C．It has been severely ruined by humans. |
| D．It isn’t open to the public for protection. |
| A．Take. | B．Create. |
| C．Involve. | D．Reduce. |
| A．Pushing for sea protection in Greece |
| B．Environmental damage is unavoidable |
| C．Climate change is expected to bring extreme weather |
| D．Raising alarms over climate change’s threat to cultural sites |
