Online masterclass focuses on scaling up work on adapting Europe’s cultural heritage to climate change
On 5 December 2024, more than 200 attendees participated in an online masterclass on the topic “Adapting Europe’s Cultural Heritage to a Rapidly Warming World: Climate Change Policy and Practice for Heritage Professionals”. The online masterclass was held in the frame of Europa Nostra’s network project European Cultural Heritage Agora, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. It was organised in cooperation with the Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance (HACA), a joint project of Preserving Legacies and the Climate Heritage Network.
The full report of the masterclass, including presentation summaries and further resources can be accessed here.
Humans have already warmed the earth an estimated 1.31 °C or more, locking in changes to the climate, some of which essentially cannot be reversed. As a result, we must adapt to current and projected climate change even while we work to mitigate even worse impacts by phasing out the burning of fossil fuels and harmful land use change.
The purpose of the online masterclass was to support scaling up adaptation efforts by those who care for Europe’s heritage places by providing them with information on policy and practice innovation.
Andrew Potts, Europa Nostra’s Heritage and Climate Action Advisor, moderated the masterclass. “This masterclass means to break down silos by locating the discussion of adaptation for cultural heritage in the broader discourse of climate change science and policy. It also aims to benchmark heritage adaptation efforts in Europe against the growing body of international practice,” he said.
Happening now ➡️ Our masterclass on #ClimateChange policy & practice for #heritage professionals just started 🌎 Today we hear from (#climate) heritage experts on best practices & policy frameworks. Plus: an update on outcomes from #COP29.
Stay tuned 🧵 https://t.co/ri2uM68NBf pic.twitter.com/2smG7Zbh4v
— Europa Nostra (@europanostra) December 5, 2024
Emerging Approaches to Risk Assessment and Climate Adaptation Planning for Heritage Places
The first speaker was Dr Salma Sabour, Director of Climate Science for the Preserving Legacies project. The project, which is funded by the National Geographic Society, works to identify and support efforts around the world to adapt heritage places to climate change.
Dr Sabour began with an explanation of the four generally recognised dimensions of climate adaptation, which she explained, are cyclical in nature. She also gave examples of European projects that elaborated the applicability of each dimension to cultural heritage.
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Dr Sabour concluded with a case study on adaptation efforts for the Coteaux, Maisons et Caves de Champagne World Heritage property in France presented on behalf of project director Amandine Crépin. The iconic bio-cultural landscape uses an “innovation through tradition” model to aid vineyard adaptation and support agroecological transition, while maintaining wine quality and typicity and ensuring economic sustainability of farms.
Credits: Europa Nostra
Dr Salma Sabour and Andrew Potts next presented an overview of better practices for climate change risk assessment for cultural heritage collected by the Preserving Legacies project from sites around Europe and the world. These practices highlight approaches that:
- Are locally-led and facilitated, in terms of governance.
- Understand that assessing climate risk to heritage values can be a different (but related) question to assessing risk to heritage fabric/attributes.
- Do not assume existing inventories represent a complete picture of a community’s heritage.
- Acknowledge that climate impacts are not restricted to prescribed site boundaries and also affect associated communities more broadly.
- Apply both western science (including downscaled climate models at different emissions scenarios) and local knowledge systems.
Use of these approaches can deliver more durable and sustainable adaptation efforts for heritage sites and cultural practices while helping to avoid maladaptation.
Building Climate Policy and Finance Support for Adapting Cultural Heritage
The next speaker was Dr Cathy Daly, Senior Researcher at Carrig Conservation International. Dr Daly presented Ireland’s innovative Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage, for which she serves as an advisor.
Ireland is one of only a few countries in the world that currently includes heritage in its national adaptation framework on par with other sectors like agriculture and transport. Dr Daly discussed how Irish colleagues were leveraging this inclusion in policy to scale up heritage adaptation work across the country. She also presented follow-on policies that were being pursued, such as a programme to train county climate adaptation officers on adaptation of local cultural heritage.
Before wrapping up, our Climate Advisor Andrew Potts, reflected on the bigger picture: “We expect national #ClimateAdaptation plans to align w/international standards (…) There’s huge opportunity in the 🇪🇺 to update strategies for #heritage in line w/the global adaptation goal” pic.twitter.com/3oDUyAPyUN
— Europa Nostra (@europanostra) December 5, 2024
Andrew Potts, Europa Nostra’s Heritage and Climate Action Advisor, outlined how current EU adaptation policies, such as the 2021 EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, fail to meaningfully cover cultural heritage. “This hinders access to support and climate finance for locally led efforts to adapt Europe’s cultural heritage”, he said. One opportunity to help fill this gap is the 2023 UN Global Goal on Adaptation framework, which for the first time includes cultural heritage as a thematic target on which national government are asked to enhance ambition and action.
Already, Andrew Potts said, we are seeing countries such as Brazil (host of next year’s UN Climate Conference – COP30) moving to conform their national climate objectives to the new UN Framework by including a focus on cultural heritage. He urged European advocates to push the EU to do the same, starting with Europe’s new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) expected in 2025. Finally, Andrew Potts introduced the Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance, a new international platform that has been launched to help advocates argue for such inclusion of cultural heritage in adaptation planning.
The online masterclass on Climate Change Policy and Practice for Heritage Professionals was the fourth masterclass which Europa Nostra organised in the framework of the European Cultural Heritage Agora Network Project (2022-2024), co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
More information
Documents and links relevant to the topics covered by the speakers include the following:
– PowerPoint: The benefits of securing heritage sectoral plans in national adaptation frameworks: the case of Ireland
– Join the Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance
– Climate Change Adaptation Sectoral Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage (2019) Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Government of Ireland
– Daly, C., C. Engel-Purcell, C. Chan, J. Donnelly, M. MacDonagh & P. Cox. 2020. ‘Climate Change Adaptation Planning, a National Scale Methodology’ in Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development Emerald Climate Change Adaptation Planning for Cultural Heritage, a National Scale Methodology – The Lincoln Repository
– Daly, Cathy, Fatorić, Sandra, Carmichael, Bethune, Pittungnapoo, Witiya, Adetunji, Olufemi, Hollesen, Jørgen, Nakhaei, Masoud and Herrera Diaz, Alberto (2022) Climate Change Adaptation Policy & Planning for Cultural Heritage in Low- & Middle-Income Countries. Antiquity. ISSN 0003-598X
– Heritage and Climate Adaptation Guidance for Local Authorities (2024) Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Government of Ireland
