Översvämning av kyrkomiljöer - hur en ökad förekomst av översvämningar kan påverka kyrkomiljöer i Lunds stift

Sammanfattning: The occurrence of floods is expected to increase due to climate change, which may lead to destruction or loss of value of cultural heritage sites. There are approximately 500 church buildings in Lund diocese. The aim of this study was to investigate how this might affect the church buildings, their inventory, and cemeteries within Lund diocese, which are protected under Swedish law. The aim was also to address possible protective measures for these environments. The locality of churches within Lund diocese was compared to data layers showing where floods are likely to occur to assess which churches could be prone to exposure from flooding. Interviews were used to gather information about how church environments could be impacted by floods and possible protective measures to avoid it. Lastly, a case study was carried out, in which the risk of getting exposed to floods was evaluated for three churches. This study shows that up to 29 churches within Lund diocese are at risk of getting exposed to floods. The majority of these are built with masonry which if exposed to floods, due to capillary suction of moisture into the masonry, could lead to biological, chemical, and mechanical degradation of structural and inventory material. The extent cemeteries risk getting exposed to floods could not be determined, however, the expected consequences for cemeteries are not as severe as for buildings and inventories. Possible protective methods were identified, though none could be considered a generally best alternative for church environments. The case study indicates that neither of the three church buildings evaluated risk getting exposed to floods, however, the wall surrounding one of the churches is expected to need higher maintenance due to erosion of the ground. No protective measures were suggested for either object. There are economical as well as ethical aspects to implementing protective methods for church environments. Other possible effects of climate change on these environments impose further challenge in which kind of techniques to implement. The results of the study could be used in discussions about the introduction of protection measures within the parishes or about prioritization and distribution of resources within Lund diocese.