Rising sea levels threaten Rapa Nui's iconic moai statues

In the latest call to address rising sea levels, new research predicts that seasonal waves could reach Ahu Tongariki, the iconic ceremonial platform that is part of the Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and home to the iconic moai statues, by the year 2080.

According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and now published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, with the inclusion of the statues this coastal flooding threatens 51 cultural assets in the area.

“This research reveals a critical threat to the living culture and livelihood of Rapa Nui,” said Noah Paoa, lead author of the study and doctoral student in the Department of Earth Sciences in the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology.

“For the community, these sites are an essential part of reaffirming identity and support the revitalisation of traditions. Economically, they are the backbone of the island’s tourism industry. Failure to address this treaty could ultimately endanger the island’s UNESCO world heritage site status.”

Threats to sites of cultural significance and their assets are equally as important to document as those to infrastructure as authorities work to develop plans to preserve and protect what matters to communities at greatest risk of rising sea levels. The ability to support thriving communities remains fundamental to the aims of ongoing studies into the impacts of those rising levels.

For this study, Paoa and his team built a detailed digital twin of the study site and used advanced computer models to simulate the wave environment along the coastline. They then mapped the projected flooding caused by waves under future sea level rise scenarios.

The flood extent was then overlaid on geospatial layers containing the location of cultural assets provided to the team by local partners, which allowed the researchers to identify the cultural assets that will be flooded.