Thomas, Helen; Andrews, Miriam; Grau-Bove, Josep; Marincioni, Valentina; Orr, Scott Allan; (2025) Assessing the risk of climate change for commonwealth war graves: a global assessment of future stone recession rates. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone (Stone 2025). International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone: Paris, France. (In press).

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Abstract

The rate of stone surface recession, influenced by environmental conditions and pollutants, is particularly pertinent for cultural heritage monuments with inscriptions. The significance of commemorative memorials relies on their legibility, making it paramount to understand how climate change is projected to impact surface recession. Combining global climate change projections with a dose-response function for Portland limestone recession allows the prediction of future deterioration rates. To explore further the limitations and opportunities of using damage functions to inform heritage management, climate-changed surface recession rates are calculated for the Commonwealth War Graves. With over 1.7 million war dead commemorated on 1.1 million gravestones, found in more than 23,000 sites, across 150 countries and territories, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a global remit to commemorate the casualties of conflict. The standardised forms of the graves and the predominant use of one material (Portland stone) lessens variability, allowing for climate change-induced damage to be predicted and cemeteries experiencing the greatest change to be identified. Overall global recession rates increase slightly with climate change, although decreasing rates are more extreme. Small islands, coastal areas, and arid regions see the greatest increase in recession rates. Linking recession not just to the cemeteries, but also to the number of graves at each site and the war the marker is associated with (the First or Second World War), seeks to understand the total exposure of all Commonwealth War Graves to climate change. A global review of how climate change is likely to alter the rates of deterioration has implications for long-term maintenance of these markers and is an essential step towards the sustainable management of commemorative military memorials.

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