Risk and Emergency Management

The web-based application developed in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) uses a simplified coastal flood index to display 50 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Mediterranean classified by their flooding risk by 2050.

Very-high-resolution satellite imagery (≤ 1 m) is used to investigate reports of intentional destruction at heritage sites. By selecting and comparing image sets over time, including newly tasked acquisitions, changes in structures can be precisely identified, allowing the timing, scale, and nature of the damage to be documented.

Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping was activated on 3 March 2019 to support the response to a major fire on Mount Kenya, which devastated much of the World Heritage Site. Using Sentinel-2 and very-high-resolution imagery, it generated delineation and monitoring maps; the final map dated 6 March estimated a burn scar of approximately 16,991 hectares.

Following the 2019 Dualchi wildfire in Sardinia, Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping produced a grading map from SPOT7, estimating 326.6 ha burned, supporting the response to protect local cork-forest ecosystems and nearby archaeological sites.

Copernicus helps detect buried archaeological remains, map land-use change, and monitor risks such as earthquakes, deformation, looting and conflict damage, supporting protection and resilience of cultural heritage sites.