Climate change is impacting more than just temperatures and snowfall, according to a new report.
High waves, caused by global warming, are eroding platforms that have supported the famous statues on Easter Island for more than 500 years, according to a new United Nations report on cultural heritage sites and climate change. No!
"Some Easter Island statues are at risk of being lost to the sea because of coastal erosion," Adam Markham, deputy director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and lead author of the report, told CNN. "Climate change is affecting World Heritage sites across the globe," Markham said.
Easter Island, a Chilean territory, is a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. But its statues are not the only landmark being impacted by climate change. The report, which grew out of the Paris climate summit in December, also details how Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are being threatened by rising sea levels and intense storms.
CNN reports that The National Park Service said the Statue of Liberty itself is threatened by climate change and the cost of "future damage to this international symbol of freedom and democracy is incalculable."