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.