Abstract

Poverty does not only cause environmental degradation, but it often also leads to a significant drain on the cultural wealth of societies. What cultural and natural heritage have in common is that they are non-renewable resources, and many approaches and mechanisms for their protection are very similar. The effects and causes of poverty on cultural heritage sites are very diverse. They involve such things as a lack of funds and staff engaged in heritage protection, urbanization and gentrification, among others. Inhabited heritage sites are especially threatened by the effects of poverty. The aim of the chapter is to highlight those connections and to examine how provisions from different areas of law can assist in breaking this chain.