This year's European Heritage Days 2022revolved around the topic of sustainability. The European Commission published a report on strengthening cultural heritage resilience to protect it from the effects of climate change.
A group of 50 experts from 25 EU Member States plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, studied the impact of climate change on cultural heritage and collected best practice examples to protect and safeguard Europe's cultural heritage.
The information gathered by the group is alarming, as climate change is threatening all forms of cultural heritage, among others through severe precipitation, long heatwaves, droughts, strong winds and sea-level rise – all of which are expected to increase in the future. The expert group put forward a set of ten recommendations within the report that are imed at helping to strengthen cultural heritage resilience to climate change. They recommend that actions be undertaken to fully integrate culture and cultural heritage issues into environmental sustainability and climate policy-making at all levels (local, regional, national, European, international).
An European climate change cultural heritage risk assessment map would provide 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. The group of experts worked in line with the European Green Deal.
Find the report here.
