ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group (CAWG)
ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group exists to support the ICOMOS community with resources and information to better counter the threats of climate change to cultural and natural heritage. The Climate Action Working Group has over 100 focal points (climate action experts that serve as points of contact) within ICOMOS National Committees and International Scientific Committees, putting it in the best possible position to meet this challenge.
Faced with these major, growing threats, ICOMOS takes a dual approach, which responds to risks posed by climate change to cultural heritage, while at the same time championing heritage as a source of resilience for climate action, unlocking its potential through better conservation.
The History of ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group
In the context of climate crisis, ICOMOS endeavours to be at the forefront of protecting at-risk heritage, developing and promoting sustainable and preventative practices. With this aim in mind, the ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group was set up in 2016.
In 2017, the ICOMOS General Assembly in Delhi adopted Resolution 19GA 2017/30, welcoming the Paris Agreement and committing ICOMOS to mobilising the cultural heritage community for climate action.
In 2019, the working group published the report, The Future of our Pasts: Engaging Cultural Heritage in Climate Action, putting forward a multi-disciplinary approach to cultural heritage faced with the challenges of climate emergency. The report underlines the enormous yet virtually untapped potential of cultural heritage for ethical, equitable climate action and resilient development pathways.
In 2020, faced with the increasing urgency of the crisis, ICOMOS General Assembly declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency. This called for “urgent collective action” from the ICOMOS community to protect heritage at threat from climate change, focusing ICOMOS’ research agenda around a single issue for the first time.
What are the Climate Action Working Group’s actions?
- Developing tools to assess impact of and vulnerability to climate change for tangible and intangible cultural and natural heritage.
- Developing new policies and methodologies to manage and conserve heritage through the climate crisis.
- Enhancing links between cultural heritage and climate science.
- Developing and scaling up cultural heritage-based solutions for climate change mitigation, emphasising the role of arts, culture and heritage in sustainable, climate-resilient development, including reduction of poverty and inequalities.
- Ensuring that cultural heritage is taken into consideration in global climate policy and action, with contributions from the CAWG’s policy task team
What are the Climate Action Working Group’s current objectives?
- To establish an online resource portal for ICOMOS and the wider heritage community, containing thematic resources such as best practice examples, relevant policies, guidance, and case studies from around the world.
- To create an engagement plan for communication, raising awareness and nurturing ability to understand and interpret climate threats, and promoting action amongst the ICOMOS community, with contributions from the CAWG’s communication task team.