Mapping Slope Instability at the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site: Implications for Site Management

Abstract

This study presents results from a geomorphological mapping exercise designed to baseline slope instability at a dynamic World Heritage Site and to establish a mechanism for recording future failures. The intention is that the database will provide a core tool for future sustainable management and, through public access via the internet, contribute to the wider understanding of the environmental issues at the site. The results have demonstrated not only the extremely dynamic nature of the site, but in conjunction with previous studies has highlighted the manner in which the level and nature of this dynamism is likely to change in response to projected climate change. Because of the threat that enhanced slope instability poses to the access network at the site, the study is seen as a timely prompt to the multiple stakeholders in the site that they should consider a unified approach to pre-emptive management that considers alternative and innovative ways in which real and virtual visitors can access the site in the future.