Culture for the Planet
© Radoszek Arts / Europa Nostra
The Work Package 4 of the network project Europa Nostra Heritage Agora (2025-2028), entitled Culture for the Planet, intends to build on Europa Nostra’s leading role in mobilising the heritage sector and civil society for the green transformation. It builds on the policy opportunities offered by Work Package 2 – Artists and Cultural Professionals and makes links with Work Package 3 – Culture for the People and Work Package 5 – Culture for co-creative Partnerships. The activities will target both members and non-members of the network.
The yearly European Heritage Masterclasses have gained reputation as an effective and active training programme. These hybrid masterclasses aim at providing heritage stakeholders with new meaningful skills to adapt to current climate challenges, and create opportunities. These small-scale workshops are organised in conjunction with other activities of the project and in cooperation with relevant public and/or private partners. These masterclasses themselves are organised in a sustainable manner, and ensure gender, intergenerational and geographical balance and representativeness within the groups.
The European Heritage Masterclass with Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger is a new 12-part video series. Across 12 concise lessons, the Masterclass explores cultural heritage as a living force in society. It moves from fundamental questions of identity, ethics and ownership to urgent challenges such as war, climate change, digital transformation, social media, governance, European cooperation and the future of heritage. Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger is renowned archaeologist, historian, cultural heritage expert and Executive President of Europa Nostra.
Lesson 6 – Challenge 2: Climate Change and Environmental Threats
Rising sea levels, floods, storms, drought, heat, changing humidity and biological growth are damaging historic buildings, landscapes, archaeological sites and collections.
This lesson looks at the different ways in which heritage is exposed to climate and environmental threats. It also asks what heritage organisations can do. Climate adaptation needs planning, risk assessment, documentation and advocacy. It also requires a new way of thinking. Heritage policy and climate policy cannot remain separate. Historic buildings, traditional knowledge and cultural landscapes can all contribute to more sustainable and resilient responses.
Examples, such as Venice, Stolberg and the Secrets of the Ice project in Norway, show how urgent this work has become.
Media: Europa Nostra, Forbes, Euronews, ALIPH
Music: Audiotronika Bright-Road, Audiio
FURTHER READING AND REFERENCE TEXTS
UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Climate Change
https://whc.unesco.org/en/climatechange
Europa Nostra – Cultural Heritage and Climate Action
www.europanostra.org/our-work/policy/cultural-heritage-and-climate-action
European Cultural Heritage Green Paper – Putting Europe’s shared heritage at the heart of the European Green Deal
www.europanostra.org/putting-europes-shared-heritage-at-the-heart-of-the-european-green-deal
Climate Heritage Network
www.climateheritage.org
Venice Lagoon – 7 Most Endangered Programme
www.europanostra.org/venice-lagoon-endangered-site-europe
Historic Centre of Stolberg, Germany – 7 Most Endangered Programme
7mostendangered.eu/sites/historic-centre-of-stolberg-germany
Glacier Archaeology Programme – Secrets of the Ice
www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/glacier-archaeology-programme-secrets-of-the-ice
International Court of Justice – Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change
www.icj-cij.org/case/187
The references above are provided for further exploration and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisers.
The expected outcome of this Work Package is the emergence of greener, more resilient, sustainable and inclusive models of operation for heritage stakeholders, which can inspire others in the heritage sector and beyond.
