Today is the International Day for Monuments and Sites, promoted by the International Council on Monuments & Sites or ICOMOS
Background information
“In 1982, ICOMOS established 18 April as the International Day for Monuments and Sites, followed by UNESCO adoption during its 22nd General Conference. Each year, on this occasion, ICOMOS proposes a theme for activities to be organized by its members, ICOMOS National and International Scientific Committees, Working Groups and partners, and anyone who wants to join in marking the Day.
Building on last year’s theme “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures” – for 2022, we call on you all to explore the theme: Heritage and Climate through open, constructive and intergenerational dialogues.”
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The planet is at a crossroads where business as usual is no longer on option. This week the 20th ICOMOS General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency.
Meeting during the 5th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, the declaration recognised that the world is failing to meet the Paris targets and that adverse impacts on cultural heritage are already being felt. It calls for urgent collective action to safeguard heritage from climate change through a precautionary approach that pursues pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
The declaration also recognises the immense potential of cultural heritage to enable inclusive, transformative and just climate action. It calls on the ICOMOS community to work to realise this potential and to seek to safeguard all types of heritages from adverse climate impacts, implement risk-informed disaster responses, deliver climate resilient sustainable development; and recognise equity and justice as fundamental dimensions of climate action.
ICOMOS also pledged to actively promote the theme of climate change and cultural heritage as the core topic of its Triennial Scientific Programme and to work to reduce its own carbon footprint.
The resolution was spearheaded by the ICOMOS Climate Change and Heritage Working Group and sponsored by a number of ICOMOS national committees and international scientific committees as well a ICOMOS members from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Korea, Latvia, Mali, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, and USA. “
The above resolution aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
