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Where the European Green Deal meets Cultural Heritage

Strengthening cultural heritage resilience for climate change; EU Report 2022
Strengthening cultural heritage resilience for climate change; EU Report 2022

Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change: Where the European Green Deal meets Cultural Heritage is a new report that posits ten recommendations to strengthen cultural heritage resilience to climate change.

Coinciding with European Heritage Days 2022 which centres on sustainability, the Commission published Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change report on strengthening cultural heritage resilience to protect it from the effects of climate change.

The information gathered by a group of experts is alarming, as climate change is directly and indirectly threatening all forms of cultural heritage, among others through severe precipitation, long heatwaves, droughts, strong winds and sea-level rise. The expert group put forward a set of ten recommendations to help strengthen cultural heritage resilience to climate change.

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: 'Protecting all types of cultural heritage from climate change is a wide challenge that we are taking on. This concerns archaeological sites and built heritage just as much as landscapes and movable heritage: we have to find an integrated approach that protects heritage qualities. The large number of countries that took part in the expert group is proof that this topic gains increasingly more importance and that there is a potential for cooperation, identification of gaps and exchange of best practices at European level.'

Improving cultural heritage resilience to climate change will involve a strategic shift towards investment in new forms of safeguarding and restoration. The expert group recommends that actions be undertaken to fully integrate culture and cultural heritage issues into environmental sustainability and climate policy-making at all levels.

A regularly updated European climate change cultural heritage risk assessment map would provide valuable information of heritage at risk. In addition, more research shall be undertaken in order to and identify and better understand the most severe threats and their potential impacts, as well as the costs involved in order to make cultural heritage resilient to climate change.

The report also points out that cultural heritage can be a most valuable source of knowledge and inspiration for policy makers, heritage managers and society as a whole. Experts collected a total of 83 good practice examples from 26 countries, which illustrate both the impact of climate change on cultural heritage and the potential of cultural heritage solutions in the context of climate change.

Download Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change report to find out more.

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