Heritage conservation under a changing climate

26 / 01 / 2009

The Fifth Annual Ename International Colloquium takes place in Ghent and Ostend (Belgium) from 18 to 20 March 2009

CLIMATES OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION:
Responding to the Challenge of Global Climate Change through Public Engagement and Social Innovation

Since 2005, UNESCO has been challenging cultural heritage organizations to take account of global climate change in their conservation mission as well as their methods. In particular, UNESCO has encouraged such organizations to work more closely with ecological organizations and also to assume a greater level of activism toward the public.

While the impacts of Global Climate Change are several, this three-day colloquium will focus on those of immediate and obvious significance to the Low Countries, namely rising sea levels and increased river flooding. Papers presented will provide comparative experiences from diverse nations in all the world’s regions that are subject to these threats as they impact cultural heritage. It is understood that cultural heritage here refers not simply to monumental sites or cultural landscapes, but also to the intangible heritage that is so much at risk. Among the questions to be asked are the following:

  • What have been the experiences with cultural sites or landscapes in diverse settings with rising sea levels and/or river flooding?
  • What have been the responses of cultural heritage organizations and how have they coordinated with other organizations active in the defense or relief effort?
  • Can heritage conservation and interpretation programmes learn from ecological approaches and vice versa or is there a danger that cultural heritage preservation will become subsumed by the attention given to ecological conservation?
  • In what way does Global Climate Change alter heritage conservation programmes or how does it affect the interpretation and presentation of cultural heritage sites?
  • How can cultural heritage professionals respond pro-actively to the global threat of climate change?
  • What does it mean for heritage organizations to engage in broader social advocacy in the light of Global Climate Change?
  • Is Global Climate Change only a threat for heritage conservation policies or does it also provide new opportunities?

We are therefore seeking innovative contributions from heritage administrators, archaeologists, historians, cultural economists, educators, cultural policy specialists and practitioners under the following four topics:

  • Actual Site Impacts and Predictions due to Global Climate Change
  • Attitudes and Responses from heritage organizations towards Global Climate Change
  • Climate Change, Cultural Tourism, and Development
  • Widening Public Engagement and Forging Organizational Alliances

For more information about the theme of the conference, the conference venue, the preliminary programme as well as registration, please visit our website: www.enamecenter.org/en/colloquium/info

For questions or requests for additional information contact Eva Roels at eva.roels@enamecenter.org.

Please feel free to distribute this announcement to any interested colleagues. We hope you will find this colloquium to be of interest and look forward to seeing you!

The Fifth Annual Ename International Colloquium is co-sponsored by the World Monuments Fund and it receives the collaboration of ICOMOS Global Climate Change Task Force. The event is co-organised by: The Province of East-Flanders, the Flanders Marine Institute, the Flemish Heritage Institute, Stony Brook University - NY, and the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation.