Informing heritage policy in an uncertain climate: Reflections from Ireland

Cultural heritage policy is likely to be most effective when it is well informed. When creating strategies for climate change adaptation the degree of uncertainty in future modelling poses a substantial challenge. This paper offers a brief exploration of this and other barriers to policy development as raised by professional respondents from fifteen different countries. 

This paper explores efforts to tackle the issue within the Republic of Ireland as a case study. Research and policy developments over the last decade in Ireland are chronicled including the implications of the recently adopted Climate Change Bill. The Irish example demonstrates how uncertainty, future discounting, politics and financial instability impact on the translation of research into policy, and thus on adaptive capacity.