Preserving wooden heritage in the Arctic as thaw, rot and tourism converge

Historic wooden structures across Svalbard are crumbling under the combined weight of climate change and human activity.

Longer, warmer, and wetter seasons fuel wood-decaying fungi, while tourism adds physical wear to sites never built to last.

The ArcticAlpineDecay project has provided a crucial baseline of knowledge—revealing how vulnerable these cultural landmarks are and why continued monitoring will be essential in the years ahead. ...