Cultural Heritage and Climate Change: New challenges and perspectives for research

Climate change is having an increasing and lasting impact on our environment and society. Cultural heritage is in no ways spared: tangible and intangible assets are exposed to new risks and their vulnerability is far greater. Researchers have already begun to investigate the impacts of climate change, but there is still a need to complement existing findings and to ensure that these contribute to future prevention and adaptation policies.

Whilst cultural heritage is often described as being challenged by climate change, global agreements – such as the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – acknowledge its potential to play an active part in the transition towards more sustainable models. Many opportunities have arisen from research, and many are still to be discovered. Research must further explore how to make cultural heritage a readily available resource for climate mitigation and sustainable development. Research in the field of cultural heritage and climate change on individual geopolitical regions, or a few in the immediate vicinity of one another, remains prevalent.

In this context, there are opportunities to promote multidisciplinary research and knowledge exchange across several regions. For example, regions with similar environmental and socioeconomic challenges and opportunities, regions with similar types of heritage, as well as regions that have experienced challenges for which they have found solutions that might inform decisions elsewhere. There are currently few opportunities to highlight research gaps and priorities and to inform those who fund research. It for this reason that two Joint Programming Initiatives with a focus on Cultural Heritage and Climate Change came together to publish a joint white paper. It is vital that research communities across regions collaborate to address the knowledge gaps identified within the paper at the global level and to safeguard our cultural heritage for future generations.

JPI Cultural Heritage & JPI Climate online session at SRI 2022 will take place on 24 June, 9:00 to 10:30 CEST.

Information about the session can be found on the Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress 2022 (SRI 2022) website on the following page.