Projekt 37226/02

CCHIP-Projekt: Connecting Culture, Heritage and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

Projektträger

International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Secretariat
11 rue du Séminaire de Conflans
F-94220 Charenton-le-Pont
Telefon: + 33 (0) 1 41 94 17

Zielsetzung und Anlass des Vorhabens

The CCHIP-Project proposed to prepare for, host, and disseminate results of an international meeting on culture, heritage, and climate change organized under the co-sponsorship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This project would, for the first time ever, assess the state of knowledge regarding connections between culture, heritage, and climate change. A Model Project Germany paralleling the IPCC process had the aim of engaging German climate and cultural heritage experts and German speaking audiences more generally on the themes and outcomes of the larger CCHIP-Project.

The stated aim of the Co-Sponsored Meeting was to take stock of the state of knowledge and practice regarding connections of culture and heritage with human induced climate change and to identify key research and knowledge gaps regarding these connections. Additional objectives included: Catalysing research and collaborations that will lead to peer-reviewed scientific publications and other appropriate literature and documentation including on local and Indigenous ways of knowing; and Expanding global capacity in connecting culture, heritage and climate over the course of and beyond the AR7 cycle.

In parallel with the international objectives of the Project, the project also aimed to bring together climate and cultural heritage experts from multiple German research institutions as part of a wider initiative to bridge the two fields of study, as well as to raise awareness on the intersections of culture, heritage and climate change for German-speaking peoples. This Model Project Germany aimed to involve those responsible in the Federal Republic of Germany more closely in the international climate–culture debate and also to test a model for the longer-term implementation of issues relating to monument protection and climate change at the national level.


Darstellung der Arbeitsschritte und der angewandten MethodenThe CCHIP-Project had two, related elements: (1) the International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change and (2) the International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change, Model Project Germany. The work steps and methods used for each of these elements is discussed below.

Co-Sponsored Meeting - Work Steps and the Methods Used
In June 2020, the IPCC Working Group Co-Chairs agreed, and the Executive Committee endorsed a proposal submitted by ICOMOS to co-sponsor an international meeting on culture, heritage and climate change. This allowed the CCHIP-Project to proceed once DBU funding was secured. UNESCO confirmed its participation in July 2020.

Conference structure
To fulfil its aims, the Co-Sponsored Meeting was organized around three overarching Scientific Questions and two cross-cutting issues, as follows:

Scientific Questions:
• Knowledge Systems: Systemic connections of culture, heritage and climate change
• Impacts: Loss, damage and adaptation for culture and heritage
• Solutions: Roles of culture and heritage in transformative change and alternative sustainable futures
Cross-cutting issues: a) Cultural governance; b) The capacity to learn from the past.

White Papers and Webinars
Three White Papers were commissioned as conversation starters and resources in support of the Co-Sponsored Meeting. The White Papers were also used to develop the topics and considerations discussed during the Co-Sponsored Meeting. Each White Paper included a review of literature that addresses one of the Meeting’s three Scientific Questions. Prior to completion of their substantial drafts, each White Paper team was asked to introduce their work to date to Co-Sponsored Meeting participants through a webinar.

Posters
Each participant was invited to submit abstracts for virtual posters via a call for abstracts All posters that met the requirements of this Poster Call were entitled to be shared virtually in connection with the Co-Sponsored Meeting.

Model Project Germany - Work Steps and the Methods Used
The Model Project Germany ran in parallel with the Co-Sponsored Meeting. In order to execute the Model Project Germany within the CCHIP-Project, ICOMOS subcontracted with the German national committee of ICOMOS (“ICOMOS Germany”). At the heart of the Model Project Germany were two workshops, both held online because of the Corona pandemic.
• An Expert Meeting of 9 July 2021 to prepare the international expert meeting in December 2021 and to collect questions and expectations for the December meeting
• A presentation event of the results of the International Co- Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change was held on 15 September 2022 as the second part of the Model German Project


Ergebnisse und Diskussion

Co-Sponsored Meeting Results
The most immediate result of the Project is that the Co-Sponsored Meeting was held over five days from 6 - 10 December 2021. Approximately 103 individuals participated in the Co-Sponsored Meeting. Participants represented 40 countries, with 40 per cent of participants coming from the Global South and 61 per cent of the participants being women. Researchers and practitioners were present, consisting of 13 Climate Scientists, 78 Culture/Heritage practitioners and seven Natural Science practitioners. Participants included members and representatives from Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Co-Sponsored Meeting Program
The Co-Sponsored Meeting consisted of three public-facing panel discussions/plenaries, 15 workshop sessions and corresponding breakout room. Forty (40) posters were exhibited online, 29 of which were presented live during these poster sessions. All sessions were held virtually. These sessions were complemented by online website discussions prior to, during and following the Meeting on a dedicated discussion board set up for participants.

Co-Sponsored Meeting Outcomes
The primary scientific outcome of the Co-Sponsored Meeting is the Global Research and Action Agenda on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change (GRAA). In addition, the Co-Chairs of the Scientific Steering Committee submitted a Progress Report regarding the Co-Sponsored Meeting to the Secretary of the IPCC. As is customary, the Progress Report includes recommendations to be taken note of by the IPCC, such as organising an IPCC Expert Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change, and inviting those scoping the reports in the upcoming 7th IPCC assessment report cycle (“AR7”) to consider including culture and heritage as a crosscutting topic across all IPCC products.

Model Project Germany Results

2021 Expert Meeting
The Expert Meeting was held on 9 July 2021. The meeting was attended by approximately 37 invited experts. In order to integrate German-language research projects more intensively into international research, a report on the expert meeting was developed and published. The publication was also intended to strengthen the German-language contribution of science in the work of the IPCC.

2022 Public Meeting
The Public meeting was held online on 15 September 2022 under the title German Challenges for Climate Science and Heritage - a response to the International Expert Meeting in December 2021 from UNESCO-ICOMOS-IPCC. The meeting was open to the public and attended by approximately 100 experts.


Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Präsentation

Most of the key published results of the project are available online as follows:
• Global research and action agenda on culture, heritage and climate change. (https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2716/)
• ICSM CHC White Paper I: Intangible cultural heritage, diverse knowledge systems and climate change. Contribution of Knowledge Systems Group I (https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2717/)
• ICSM CHC White Paper II: Impacts, vulnerability, and understanding risks of climate change for-culture and heritage: Contribution of Impacts Group II (https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2718/)
• ICSM CHC White Paper III: The role of cultural and natural heritage for climate action: Contribution of Impacts Group III (https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2719/) Monument Protection and Climate Change. International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change, Model project Germany, Report on the Expert Workshop held on 9 July 2021. (German: https://www.icomos.de/icomos/pdf/final-report-chcc-workshop-july-2021- ger.pdf); (English: https://www.icomos.de/icomos/pdf/final-report-chcc-workshop-july- 2021-eng.pdf).
• Proceedings of the International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change (https://www.cultureclimatemeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/ICSM-CHC-Procedings-31Jan23.pdf)

The Co-Sponsored Meeting was widely discussed on social media, including via hashtag #ICSMCHC. The Co-Sponsored Meeting was extensively featured on Twitter and Facebook, including via the Climate Heritage Network, a civil society network (@ClimateHeritage).


Fazit

The Co-Sponsored Meeting responded to growing calls for attention to culture, heritage, and climate change. The Co-Sponsored Meeting successfully addressed these topics. The Meeting Proceedings, the Progress Report recommendations, the GRAA, and the White Papers emphasise the connections between culture and the human past and how these intersect with the modern phenomena of climate change; they identify culture and heritage gaps in global climate science and climate change response. The Model Project Germany was successful in initiating for the first time an interdisciplinary discussion on culture, heritage and climate change among German speaking persons.

Moving forward, the organisers are hopeful that the climate and culture research, practice and policy communities will build further fruitful collaborations together that will address some of the gaps in identified in the GRAA, producing new knowledge and generating additional peer reviewed literature and other relevant inputs for consideration during the IPCC’s forthcoming AR7 and AR8 assessment cycles With respect to the Model Project Germany, next steps are the development of data collection as well as the need to involve politics. Already several new initiatives catalysed the CCHIP Project are underway, both internationally and in Germany.