Last week's United Nations publication on heritage sites threatened by climate change highlights the urgency facing the Yukon's Herschel Island in the Beaufort Sea.

The report says diminishing sea ice leads to higher exposure of coastal areas, which become more susceptible to storms causing a greater amount of erosion.

'Consequently, on Herschel Island, the Yukon government authorities have been forced to undertake salvage archaeology of ancient Thule dwellings to move buildings inland to keep them dry and thus avoid flooding of low-lying areas,' reads the report.

'But if the shoreline erosion progresses, another move may be needed and abandonment of the structures will need to be taken into consideration as the context and value of the whaling settlement site may become irreversibly compromised.'

The report is titled Case Studies of Climate Change and World Heritage. It was released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

It cites 26 world heritage sites and candidate sites, like Herschel Island, which are endangered by changing conditions due to climate change.

In its reference to Herschel Island, UNESCO cites research into the historic whaling settlement and the Western Arctic by Doug Olynyk, the Yukon's manager of historic sites who made a presentation in Paris last year to UNESCO's panel of experts.

UNESCO also notes recent research conducted by Yukon archaeologist Greg Hare and his team looking into alpine ice patches which are beginning to melt and reveal artifacts that have been hidden beneath the ice for centuries.

Olynyk said the UNESCO report helps emphasize that climate change is not just a threat to ecosystems, people and economies, but also to important cultural and historic values.

'I think it is saying the foundation of our civilization and our heritage is also being threatened.'

What the future has in store for the former whaling and trading settlement is not clear, he said.

While the international body has noted the 26 sites under threat around the world, Olynyk said ultimately the responsibility for any action is up to the country of origin.

Olynyk said he and a team of archaeologists and paleontologists will be visiting Herschel this summer with an aim of gathering as much new information as possible.

With that, they'll form an action strategy of what, or how much more, can be done to maximize the protection of the historic site, or at least gather what archaeological information is still available, he said.

There are, for instance, documented cases of permafrost thawing and causing the ground to shift, resulting in coffins being exposed and some even breaking apart as they tumble with the sloughing soil.

Olynyk said creating an action plan could identify things like priority archaeology sites that have not been excavated but should be before they sink under water.

But there are limitations, not only created by available funding, but practical considerations as well, he said.

Records show that in the 60-some years since the 1920s to 1987, the shoreline receded about 10 metres. In the last 20 years alone, it's receded about 20 metres.

And it's expected the Beaufort will rise at least half of a metre in the next 100 years.

Olynyk said three of the buildings have already been relocated twice in the last seven years.

The store belonging to the Northern Whaling and Trading Company was moved five metres back from the shoreline in 2003, and another five metres back in 2005.

But if you just keeping moving them, at some point they'll lose their historical context, he suggested.

Olynyk said the extreme sensitivity of the ecosystem on and around Herschel Island may be under threat from more than climate change.

With the growing interest in opening up the Northwest Passage to more shipping, with expanded interest in offshore oil, the area could become busier.

There are two cruise ships that already visit the island in the summer, he said.

The UNESCO report also makes a point of noting how climate change may be threatening culture and history that nobody even knows about yet, such as what lies under the alpine ice patches.

In a bit of a twist, however, the report notes the recent find in the Kluane area of a 9,000-year-old piece of wood that has been worked on by human hands would not have been revealed without the warming climate.

While Herschel Island Territorial Park is in the Yukon, funding to support its annual operations is covered by Ottawa as part of the federal commitment contained in the Inuvialuit Final Agreement of 1984.