These datasets include UNESCO cultural World Heritage sites (WHS) located in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) of the Mediterranean region as of 2018. The data have been produced within a study that assesses Mediterranean UNESCO World Heritage at risk from coastal flooding and erosion due to sea-level rise until 2100.
We have produced one dataset of so-called serial nominations, including all those cases where a WHS consists of more than one site, and one aggregated dataset of the main inscribed WHS.
The shapes of the WHS (serial and main) are available in polygon vector format in geographic coordinates (WGS84). The attribute tables are available in text format (CSV). For further information, please see the README file and the paper published based on these data:
Reimann, L, Vafeidis, AT, Brown, S, Hinkel, J, Tol, RSJ (2018). Mediterranean UNESCO World Heritage at risk from coastal flooding and erosion due to sea-level rise. Nature Communications 9: 4161, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06645-9.
Please cite the paper along with this repository when using the data. Suggested data citation:
Reimann, L, Vafeidis, AT, Brown, S, Hinkel, J, Tol, RSJ (2018): UNESCO cultural World Heritage in the Mediterranean coastal zone. Available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5759538.