Deterioration and decay of wooden cultural heritage in Arctic and Alpine environments

The wooden cultural heritage in the Arctic Svalbard and the Alpine regions of mainland Norway is situated in vulnerable ecosystems with high impact from the ongoing climate changes in addition to threats from increased human influence and land use changes. Awareness of the importance of our wooden cultural heritage and approaches for sustainable use must be combined to protect, conserve, and manage wooden cultural heritage at risk. In this project human activity and behaviour, climatic exposure and type and rate of biodeterioration need to be clarified to establish a baseline scenario and serve as a knowledge platform for future strategic decisions and priorities in Arctic and Alpine regions in Norway. Through a cross-disciplinary approach, with stakeholders, public authorities, tourist trade, commerce, and science ArcticAlpineDecay will establish a web knowledge platform on current state of wooden cultural heritage, including a set of carefully selected future scenarios to enable vulnerability assessment and disaster risk reduction and facilitate a solid base for future development of resilient and sustainable management and conservation plans for wooden cultural heritage. A cross-disciplinary approach spanning from humanities to natural science will include state-of-the-art analytical approaches to wood biodegradation in combination with people's knowledge and perception of the use and protection of cultural environments in the face of climatic, environmental and societal change. This approach will ensure sustainable use and management of wooden cultural heritage in Arctic and Alpine environments in Norway and will mitigate negative consequences of changes in the climate, land use, and human activity.