The cultural as well the natural heritage is increasingly threatened with destruction, not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of damage or destruction. Deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all nations of the world. Protection of this heritage at the national level often remains incomplete, because of the scale of the resources which it requires and of the insufficient economic, scientific, and technological resources of the country where the property to be protected is situated.
Climate change impact on the world’s cultural and natural heritage is subject of growing concern. Phenomena as sea level rise and changes in the occurrence of extreme events, are already affecting cultural heritage sites.
Earth observation plays a pivotal role in monitoring of the climate change impact on Cultural Heritage sites, it is crucial to focus the analysis on the sites located in coastal areas because human activity has traditionally concentrated in these locations. For this reason, a large number of Cultural Heritage monuments is located in coastal areas as well.
In this domain, Earth Observation key role has been already demonstrated in applications such as ground motion and terrain displacement monitoring; management system for archaeological sites in coastal regions and illegal actions prevention; coastal areas and sea monitoring ;air quality monitoring in ports and coastal areas.
In this thematic call, the tenderer is invited to submit ideas to develop sustainable Earth Observation related products (upstream and/or downstream) addressing challenges in the Cultural and Natural heritage domain with a particular focus on the coastal areas. For details, please visit the Open Space Innovation Platform.