Thread by @AndrewSPotts

On the 5th anniversary of the #ParisAgreement, the General Assembly of @ICOMOS (the global cultural heritage NGO) has overwhelmingly voted to declare a Climate & Ecological Emergency.
A THREAD /1
icomos.org/en/focus/clima…
#Parisversaire #CultureDeclaresEmergency #ClimateHeritage

In 2017 @ICOMOS committed to mobilising for #ClimateAction, recognising that unprecedented concentrations of anthropogenic GHGs were changing the climate, it committed to delivering cultural heritage-based solutions to implement the #ParisAgreement.
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public.3.basecamp.com/p/juW883Soihrb…

Since then, things have gotten worse. In 2018, @IPCC_CH found that climate change impacts on both human & natural systems may be long-lasting or *irreversible.* #SR15 Hard to hear if your job is safeguarding treasured heritage for future generations.🤯 ipcc.ch/sr15/download/ /3

The world is failing to meet the #ParisAgreement targets: Current GHG concentrations are the highest ever recorded. The human cost of climate change have never been clearer. /4

https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1336681125696180224?s=20

Many sites & places may be able to successfully adapt to the impacts of 1.5 ° of global warming, but not 2° degrees & certainly not the 3 °+ we're on track for. Put another way: folks, we can't safeguard heritage thru site-based adaptation alone. /5

https://twitter.com/UNEP/status/1336613707728769027?s=20

This has led ICOMOS to conclude: Those who care about safeguarding natural & cultural heritage must demand urgent action to implement a precautionary approach that pursues pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5°C. In other words, we gotta #FightFor1Point5
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And culture can help! @ICOMOS reminds us that cultural heritage has immense potential to dive a #JustTransition, heighten ambition & capacity, support climate adaptation, contribute to GHG reductions, & address #lossanddamage. /7
#ClimateHeritage
🔗icomos.org/en/77-articles…

But understanding climate change's cultural dimensions requires better integration of cultural heritage & climate science. Here, there's hope! The Declaration welcomes the joint @IPCC_CH @UNESCO @ICOMOS Int'l Expert Meeting on Culture, Heritage & Climate Change coming in 2021.
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The Declaration call on cultural actors to #ActOnClimateNow. But how? For starters, it sets out 7 key considerations. Cultural-heritage based #ClimateAction should:

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#ClimateHeritage

➡ 1) Seek to safeguard all types of heritage from not just current but *projected* adverse impacts of climate change, both rapid and slow onset, starting with vulnerability and risk assessments & monitoring.

➡ 2) Implement appropriate, climate change adaptation strategies and risk-informed, disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery strategies.

➡ 3) Work to realise the potential of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible & local communities' knowledge and practices, to contribute to transformative change, drive GHG mitigation and climate adaptation, and deliver climate resilient pathways. #ClimateHeritage
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➡ 4) Seek to connect heritage-based #ClimateAction to the UN #SDGs in order to achieve holistic responses that include the social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions of sustainability, as well as those of peace, justice & partnerships.
#CoBenefits
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➡ 5) Recognise equity & justice as key to #ClimateAction by centring: solidarity with Indigenous Peoples & vulnerable & frontline communities; participatory climate governance; & gender-responsive, human rights & rights-based approaches. @UNSRCulture
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https://twitter.com/UNSRCulture/status/1314311244736798730?s=20

➡ 6) Integrate the conservation of nature and culture, endogenous and traditional knowledge, and landscape-scale approaches into policies and programmes. #NatureCulture #CultureNature
iucn.org/sites/dev/file…
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➡ 7) Recognise that existing heritage conservation practice, tools, assessments and methodologies will need to be supplemented with new, cooperative, transdisciplinary and participatory approaches and models tailored to the imperatives of climate change. /16

This last one should be a wake up call for heritage colleagues evertywhere & indeed the Declaration underscores that familiarity with climate change must become a 'baseline competency' of heritage management.
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The Declaration also calls upon other culture & heritage organisations to declare climate emergencies and encourages @ICOMOS bodies to take into account their own carbon footprint and work to reduce it. @CultureDeclares
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Read the full text of the @ICOMOS Cultural Heritage and the Climate Emergency Declaration here:
English: public.3.basecamp.com/p/LBiu84BoTPge…
French: public.3.basecamp.com/p/pbdKjQT75Yhe…

#Parisversaire
#ClimateHeritage