“The essential objective of this week is to understand the impacts of climate change on the exceptional value of goods classified in Portugal, both sites or monuments” the president of the Côa Parque Foundation, Bruno Navarro, told Lusa.

The seminar is the result of a partnership between the National Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Côa Parque Foundation.

The Côa Valley is located in an area that is very subject to climate change, he said.

He recalled that it is the largest open-air Rock Art sanctuary in the world, making it more vulnerable to this type of climate change.

Navarro said that action must be taken in this context of climate change to create a plan for risk management and sustainability.

"This plan has begun to be drawn up in partnership with the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) and has been the subject of two applications for community funds” Navarro said.

“The goal for the future is to monitor the Vale do CôaArchaeological Park permanently so that we can anticipate the effects of climate change," he added.

In the future, the foundation intends to place a set of sensors along the park to monitor heat, humidity and detect forest fires.

According to those responsible for the management of the foundation, climate change is a current concern of UNESCO, which has been mobilising the heritage community for climate action"

As an immense open-air gallery, the Côa Valley has more than a thousand engraved rocks in more than 80 different sites, predominantly palaeolithic engravings, made about 30,000 years ago.