Τhe Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports within the framework of China-CEEC Cooperation (Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries), will hold the 3rd Experts’ Forum for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage «Climate Change and Intangible Cultural Heritage», which will take place online on Wednesday June 15, 2022, 9.30 am – 17.00 pm (EEST).
According to the latest scientific data, climate change is already a reality. A reality that exposes humanity to increasing and multiple climate risks, such as heat waves, mega-fires, extreme weather phenomena, floods etc., all of which lead to serious effects impacting every manifestation of human activity, as well as our social organization.
Compliance with the commitments and the objectives of the Ιnternational Conventions and Agreements for Climate Change is imperative and more urgent than ever. According to current scientific data and findings as prescribed in the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 6th AR, 2022), the window of opportunity for mitigating and addressing the climate crisis is narrowing. At the same time, the overall costs for creating more resilient societies to climate risks and recovering from the related impact are dramatically increasing.
Cultural heritage does not of course remain unscathed from this global phenomenon. As UNESCO and the international scientific community have repeatedly pointed out, the coming decades will be critical for tangible as well as intangible cultural heritage.
The discussion regarding the potentially adverse effects of climate change on intangible cultural heritage is of particular interest. Pacific islands communities, as well as populations in other areas such as Alaska, are already facing the extreme effects of climate change.
Intangible cultural heritage conveys the ways in which humans organized their survival on the planet, which over time depended on their ability to adapt to the natural environment (know-how and knowledge of cosmos and the universe, such as traditional crafts, ethnobotanic knowledge, ethno-meteorology, natural resource management practices etc.), as well as on their ability to regulate their social relations (rites of passage, myths of origin, etc.).
Intangible cultural heritage can also be an inexhaustible source of inspiring ways for modern societies to tackle the challenges of climate change and adapt to its impacts, as it encapsulates the knowledge of how societies and cultures of previous generations adapted to environmental challenges.
Organized by:
Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage
Directorate of International Relations and European Union
You may find the poster of the Forum here and the program in Pdf format here.
You are welcome to join the webinar using this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81989770139?pwd=dnMxcTZoNC9vR050dTlYM0YxVkMxUT09
Passcode: 150622