The AIC Sustainability Committee had the honor of representing the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) at the first-ever Climate Heritage Mobilization event at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit held September 12-13th in San Francisco, CA. The Mobilization is “devoted to the role of cultural heritage and historic preservation – tangible and intangible- in Climate Action. Its aim is to highlight how heritage actors can help their communities achieve their climate targets and the ambitions of the Paris Agreement with an emphasis on integrated nature-culture approaches.” The event was organized with support from the California Office of Historic Preservation as well as many national and international partners, including ICOMOS and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was attended by representatives from ICOM Sustainability Working Group, US National Park Service, American Institute of Architects, American Anthropological Society, UN Environment and UN Habitat and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, International Indian Treaty Council, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, several elected officials from around the world, allied NGOs, among many others.
The first day’s session of talks titled Mobilizing the Cultural Heritage and Historic Preservation Sectors for Climate Change took place at the California Historical Society. Attended by approximately 120 colleagues, the program was an urgent call to action and included case studies of successful projects whether architectural, archaeological, legislative, city planning, or social justice-based. All program materials from the paperless meeting and video recordings of each presentation will be available at www.climateheritage.org
The following day, formation of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN) was announced and founding volunteer-member organizations convened to discuss the goals and structure of the network. Broadly, CHN is envisioned as a mutual support network of city, state/provincial, regional and tribal cultural heritage and historic preservation offices and professional organizations committed to supporting their communities in achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. CHN seeks to mobilize the talents of archaeologists, conservators, architects, anthropologists, social scientists, historians, engineers and allied professionals on climate issues. Follow #climateheritage and stay tuned for more details and ways to get involved.