Framework for Climate Action in Culture & Heritage

8/14/2019 Framework for Climate Action in Culture & Heritage

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5. We need to make our assets even more accessible to aid urgent and pragmaticlearning from them. This may involve increasing digital access to our culture andknowledge.

6. We should not delay in reducing greenhouse gas emissions across ouroperations, as this is only a first step.

7. We must model and enable imaginative thinking and practice, workingoptimistically and generously with creative people and ideas.

8. We must aim to think systemically to deal with the complexity of the situation, sothat we can continually reassess our priorities.

9. We should prioritise community engagement, working more closely with

agencies involved in natural environment, place-making, engineering and

sustainable economics. We should redefine our audiences as communities of

interest, groups of people who need to learn and solve problems.

10. We should drive towards contextualisation, so that artefacts and knowledge are

more dynamically placed into an ecosystem of landscape, biodiversity and

human economics and creativity.

3 Three dimensions of action

3.1Mitigation and adaptation

Both of these, in balance, are priorities for all organisations of any kind.

Mitigation by: Reducing the risk of climate disruption worsening Reducing emissions Protecting wilderness (that held in stewardship or by indirect support) By supporting green design

Adaptation by: Forward-thinking planning for the risks of climate disruption Protecting and strengthening assets Moving assets or not developing them in risk areas

Developing sustainable infrastructure Helping communities deal with change and loss

3.2 Infrastructure and Mission

Public service broadcasters, arts agencies, science or design bodies, should considerhow to Mitigate and Adapt to climate change through both their Infrastructure and theirPublic Mission.

Infrastructure: Balance of both mitigation & adaption With buildings, landscapes, administrative practices, travel, technology Not forgetting hidden infrastructure such as ethical finance


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Public Mission: Support and encourage mitigation & adaptation actions by the wider public Learning from the past to develop new solutions

3.3 Preventing and Recording Loss

All in the cultural and heritage sectors have missions to sustain cultural activity, topreserve heritage in perpetuity and to help people cope with change and prepare forchallenge.

Preventing and reducing loss (a specific aspect of mitigation): Researching and raising awareness of threats to culture & knowledge due to

extreme events, ecosystem destruction and the dispersal of cultural groups Moving assets to protect them, placing them in new contexts

Recording and restoring what is lost (a specific aspect of adaptation): Community co-curation and research to recover knowledge

Restoration of natural and cultural heritage Helping communities deal with loss

4 Opportunities and risks

4.1 Global risk

The effects of climate disruption on a single country must be understood in a globalcontext. For example, the UKs economy is reliant on other countries for its food supplyand industrial production. Also, loss of liveable land worldwide will place much greater

pressures on the UK from migration, aid responsibilities and an increased threat ofterrorism and war. These factors, resulting in a severe economic downturn and foodshortage, will significantly outweigh the risks of extreme local weather or tidal eventsfor the UK culture & heritage sectors. Culture and heritage will not be seen as a priorityin these circumstances although there is much evidence from the past thatcommunities which maintain strong cultural participation are more resilient andcreative in crises. The most positive approach is to demonstrate the value of culturalheritage in tackling this crisis rather than seeking to preserve our notions and practiceswhich have evolved in a context of affluence and leisure.

This chart lists the climate change risks identified by the 4th Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change in 2007 and it suggests some contributions the sector can make to

mitigate or adapt to them. It may be helpful to identify these actions as opportunities.

Note that the 4th Panel was based on science conducted up to 2005. Models since then,for example by MIT in 2009, identify greater risks as ice at both poles is melting muchfaster than predicted. The IPCC 2007 report did not account for polar melting or therelease of methane from frozen tundra, but focused on glacier melting and thermalexpansion of the oceans.

IPPCs risks posedby climate change

Cultural & heritage organisations can aid work to:


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Danger to up to 118million peoplelosing theircommunities to thesea (and newmodels suggest therisk is faced by 600

million)

Explore the experience of people in places such as Bangladesh orEgypt, to understand the impact of severe flooding.

Describe and promote engineering & ecosystem solutions e.g. theDelta Project to enable people to learn and adapt them.

Record and interpret the threatened heritage of coastal, estuary/flood-plain landscapes and peoples, so that a) we raise awarenessof its value to help tackle rising sea levels b) preserve knowledge &rescue/move heritage artefacts.

Help these communities face the threat to their homes andlivelihoods by a) using cultural & creative means to help themunderstand the science/engineering behind coastal defence &climate change mitigation so that they can be active citizens andb) so that they are psychologically prepared to deal with change,loss and possible need to move home & business.

Contribute to imaginative coastal defence and coastal livingschemes, accessing science & cultural heritage knowledge &contemporary art/design thinking

When planning new coastal/estuary cultural developments, buildcoastal defence into architectural & landscaping plans if the area isprotected enough from erosion/flood to be a sustainable proposal

Risk of famine dueto the threateningof crops througharidity, flood,altered growthcycles and pests[Note, this iscombined with loss ofbiodiversity caused by

factors other thanclimate change]

Help communities learn about resilient and sustainable crops andabout new approaches to food production such as permaculture.

Contribute to seed and plant heritage projects.

Develop the skills and capacities in communities to grow their ownfood in gardens and allotments.

Reduce food waste and help people cope with food rationing byraising awareness of good nutrition, storage and cooking practices.

Expose the connections between biodiversity/ecosystem

destruction and climate change.

A large increase inthe range ofdiseases such asmalaria

Explore the experiences of people where such diseases are morecommon and threatening.

Design creative ways of resisting insect-borne diseases.

Ecosystem changes,in particular agrowth of deserts

and a reduction offorests.

[Note, this destructionis both directlyhuman-caused e.g.logging & plasticpollution of seas & aconsequence ofclimate change e.g.forest fires, hurricanedamage]

Help people understand interdependencies in ecosystems.

Help people grasp the fragility of ecosystems by exploring howthey have changed and collapsed in the past.

Learn about the experience of people living in or escaping fromdeserts, especially recent deserts such as in China.

Raise awareness of the vital contribution of forests andphytoplankton in sinking carbon.

Take part in schemes to reduce the destruction of forests and plantnew ones, and marine conservation etc.

Take part in schemes to record lost and changing landscapes andspecies.


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More crowded livingspaces[Note, due to loss ofliveable humanhabitats > migration]

Encourage debate about population growth.

Learn from the past ways to design new solutions for living moredensely in cities.

Work with rural communities to adapt to influx of newdevelopments and different people.

Explore ways of sharing rather than defending private and tribal

space.

More coexistence of

cultures and

languages in

habitable areas

Learn about and invent ways that diverse cultures haveexchanged and lived harmoniously together.

Support work to record artefacts, knowledge and language as theyare lost, fragmented or adapted into new communities.

Ensure that museums/cultural centres can adapt collections &programmes to increasing cultural diversity.

A more nomadiclifestyle for many of

us

Develop aptitudes of flexibility, tolerance of others and practicalliving skills.

Make cultural resources available digitally and support digitalinclusion initiatives so that content can be accessed by anyoneanywhere.

More competitionfor food and goods

Develop positive deviancy, or imaginative resourcefulness - tothrive with less.

Encourage collaborative approaches for sharing food and goods.

A greater gapbetween rich andpoor

Use cultural resources to explore alternative economic systems.

Use material culture from the past to understand the negativeeffects of excessive materialism.

Use cultural heritage organisations as a base for philanthropy andsocial exchange schemes, to help narrow the gap.

A shorter lifeexpectancy

Understand, and take responsibility for personal health.

See above on contributing to solutions to increased diseases &food shortages.

A shift of publicresources awayfrom inessentials

Find ways to help people make their own culture and enjoyment.

Explore ways that public cultural resources can be used moreefficiently, can share & reuse infrastructure, reduce new buildings& new initiatives that become money drains

Explore how green infrastructure can save money.

Fundamentalconflicts betweenthose who respondwith decadence andthose withauthoritarian moralstances

Work with cultural & creative mediators to help people avoid fixinginto extreme positions of either indulgence or repression of liberalvalues.

Promote an approach to education and problem-solving that isbased on dialogue, enquiry and pragmatism.

Provide spaces for people from diverse backgrounds to share viewson ethics in a changing situation.

Greatly increased

threats of nuclearwar and terrorism.

Sensitively explore the experiences and outcomes of nuclear and

terrorist attacks. Use cultural diplomacy and other initiatives to promote

international peace.


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4.2 Local risks

The risks to the UK have been identified and visualised by the UK Climate Projectionsteam in DEFRA.

Most of these projections are based on a medium emissions scenario, which is by no

means the worst case scenario but is worse than the World Stabilisation Scenariorequired to put climate disruption into slow reverse.

These effects include: Warmer summers (mean 4.5 degrees C warmer by the 2080s) Greater risk of flash floods. Sea level rises, especially affecting Southern England

Apart from the global risks identified above, it is likely that the main risk to UK cultureand heritage is related to water, including too little of it:

Subsidence from drought causing damage to buildings and infrastructure

Fires in forests and on heathland affecting biodiversity and cultural heritage inlandscape

...and too much of it: Coastal erosion from increased wave height and more severe storms Tidal flooding Fluvial flooding Flash floods from heavy rainfall on dry ground.

The UKCP09 maps show how many thousands of listed buildings and heritageattractions are located in flood risk areas. Apart from the suggestions on how to tackleto the global scenario, organisations in the UK need to address these risks by:

Working closely with the Environment Agency, regional panels on climateadaption and local authorities on reducing risks to infrastructure

Using cultural heritage to raise awareness of its value to the public andbiodiversity, to encourage mitigation and adaptation investment in communitiesat risk

Take efforts seriously to reduce emissions and adapt buildings to reduce yourvulnerability from extreme events.

5 Resources

http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/content/view/6/6http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspxhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/DCMS_SDActionPlan_07.pdfhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6003.aspx/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/199.htmhttp://globalfloodmap.org/http://www.greenermuseums.org/http://ecoch.wordpress.comhttp://www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/homehttp://australianmuseum.net.au/Climate-Change/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/climatechange/

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change.htmhttp://www.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk/live/
http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/content/view/6/6http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspxhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/DCMS_SDActionPlan_07.pdfhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6003.aspx/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/199.htmhttp://globalfloodmap.org/http://www.greenermuseums.org/http://ecoch.wordpress.com/http://www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/homehttp://australianmuseum.net.au/Climate-Change/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/climatechange/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change.htmhttp://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change.htmhttp://www.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk/live/http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspxhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/DCMS_SDActionPlan_07.pdfhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6003.aspx/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/199.htmhttp://globalfloodmap.org/http://www.greenermuseums.org/http://ecoch.wordpress.com/http://www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/homehttp://australianmuseum.net.au/Climate-Change/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/climatechange/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change.htmhttp://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change.htmhttp://www.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk/live/http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/content/view/6/6


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Documents

Framework for Climate Action in Culture & Heritage