Climate change is endangering global heritage sites. Ignoring science today means disaster for our children tomorrow.
It is a great pity that, under the influence of US President Donald Trump, climate change denialism is surging as much as is distrust of vaccines.
At the heart of both is a deep antipathy to science.
No doubt there will be those who pooh-pooh as alarmist, or even just fake news, that almost three-quarters of the globe’s cultural and natural heritage sites are threatened by too little or too much water, the result of climate change.
The UN’s cultural agency, Unesco, says at least 73% of all 1 172 non-marine sites on the Unesco Heritage List are exposed to at least one severe water risk – including water stress, drought, river flooding or coastal flooding.
ALSO READ: Where does Johannesburg’s air quality rank among global polluters?
Among them are the Taj Mahal in India, Yellowstone National Park in the US and, not far from us, the mighty Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Too many scientists have been sounding warnings over the past 20 years about climate change and, although some predictions have been alarmist, can we ignore the science?
More importantly, can we kick this particular can down the road and leave it to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to try and sort out the mess and save our planet?