ICOMOS Georgia and Sustainable Caucasus join hands to start discussions to better protect heritage from climate impacts.
ICOMOS Georgia and Sustainable Caucasus join hands to start discussions to better protect heritage from climate impacts.
The 20th ICOMOS General Assembly called all national committees to adopt climate change-related programmes in their own countries - actions to better protect heritage from climate impacts: to enhance participation in climate change networks such as the Climate Heritage Network; and to engage governments and other relevant external parties on applicable climate policy and planning processes, for example, to secure the inclusion of cultural heritage in national climate adaptation frameworks.
ICOMOS Georgia together with Sustainable Caucasus, initiated the first webinar on the topic: “Climate Change and Cultural Heritage in Georgia” on the 21st of September, 2021.
National experts, representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, as well local NGOs with wide experience in this area attended the webinar.
Sustainable Caucasus Executive Director, Nina Shatberashvili as the main speaker of the webinar, overviewed main climate change factors already affecting cultural heritage sites in Georgia, like as gradual changes in temperature, precipitation, atmospheric moisture, and wind intensity, as well as sea-level rise and changes in the occurrence of extreme events.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia representative Mrs Maia Tskhvaradze noted that cultural heritage is often absent from climate change discussions, but preserving heritage is necessary, and the Ministry is ready to consider concrete actions.
Director-General Ms Nato Tsintsabadze underlined that it’s essential to understand that cultural heritage is much more than just standalone architectural heritage but is cultural landscapes and intangible heritage. Therefore, it is important also to build resilience and maintain community identity and tradition.
Participants agreed to continue discussions around this topic to develop recommendations and clear practices for conserving culturally significant places that incorporate climate mitigation and adaptation and use heritage sites as opportunities for climate education, encouraging research of historical sites to understand past responses to changing climatic changes conditions.
