High-arctic cultural heritage environments are deteriorated by cruise tourism: a case study from Svalbard

<p>ABSTRACT<br>The Arctic’s environmental and heritage management authorities face<br>increasing challenges regarding degradation and destruction of natural<br>and cultural heritage, especially due to increasing impacts from tourism<br>and climate change. Tourism is now an important industry in the Arctic,<br>and a major cause of negative impacts on the environment and biodiversity.<br>We assess the different impacts and stressors created by tourism on<br>these areas on the archipelago of Svalbard using field studies and remote<br>sensing. We found that increased tourism during the last three decades<br>(1990–2020) was the most important stressor expressed as impairment of<br>vegetation from 4% to 55% at and around eight major cultural heritage<br>environments on Svalbard. Finally, we outline some future suggestions<br>concerning management and adaption for improvement of sustainable<br>tourism in the High Arctic.</p>