Antiquities Coalition Mobilizes to Protect Cultural Heritage From Climate Change by Joining Climate Heritage Network
November 16, 2020
The Antiquities Coalition is honored to announce that it has joined the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), which describes itself on its website as “a voluntary, mutual support network of arts, culture and heritage organisations committed to aiding their communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.”
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change that was adopted by 196 parties on December 12, 2015. It entered into force on November 4, 2016, with the goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”
“Climate change is one of the most significant and fastest growing threats to people and their cultural heritage worldwide,” the CHN said in an October 22 press release. “The CHN aims to foreground the cultural dimensions of global climate action and to create a roadmap that will allow every arts, culture and heritage-related organization to do its part.”
The Antiquities Coalition’s membership with the CHN was approved on November 12 and announced on November 16.
Like the CHN, the Antiquities Coalition recognizes that climate change is a top global threat to all aspects of our world, including our shared cultural heritage. Our Think Tank recently tackled this subject in its seventh policy brief, in which conservation and climate change expert Terry Townshend examined the climate change-related risks facing cultural World Heritage Sites and made recommendations for how to assess and mitigate those risks.
We at the Antiquities Coalition look forward to working alongside the CHN to secure a lasting future for our shared cultural heritage.