Research project World Heritage Crisis. Water shortage and drought in the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland

World Heritage sites are places that are considered to have unique and universal values for humanity and have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List to be protected for future generations. What happens when changes in the climate and the environment affect the conditions for preserving a world heritage? How do the experiences of such changes affect people's perceptions of the past, the future and actions in the present?

This research project examines how the water shortage and drought at the island of Öland, from 2016 and onwards, are experienced among actors in the World Heritage the Agricultural Landscape of southern Öland, and how the events caused by water shortage and drought shape these actors’ ways of relating to the landscape and imagining both the future and the past. The study is based on interviews with landowners – farmers in particular – as well as with officials at the municipality involved in water and heritage work.