Bringing the #ClimateHeritage Message to World Urban Forum 10
There’s no just transition — no carbon transformation — without human creativity, heritage values, social license and cultural capital. Arts, culture and heritage offer immense potential to drive climate action in cities and regions and support equitable transitions towards low carbon, climate resilient development. And yet, in many places the culture sector is neither mobilised for climate action nor included in climate planning. There’s even a risk culture will be left out of the upcoming IPCC Special Report on Cities. The Climate Heritage Network is at World Urban Forum 2020 to help flip this paradigm.
Convened by UN-Habitat, the Forum is a high level platform for addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanization. The tenth session (WUF10) will be held in Abu Dhabi from 8-13 February under the theme ‘Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation.’ The Climate Heritage Network was founded in 2019 by a coalition of governments, NGOs, universities and businesses committed to using arts, culture and heritage to aid communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
To build on WUF10’s culture theme, on Tuesday, 11 February, 2020, the CHN has organised a networking event entitled “Mobilizing Arts, Culture and Heritage for Transformative Climate Action in Cities and their Territories.” The event will:
Explore ways cultural heritage supporting GHG reduction by promoting sensitive reuse of existing buildings and valuing historic settlements patterns
Define new ways of collaboration between climate action and the culture sector.
Previewing efforts to foreground culture in climate policy, science and COP26.
The CHN Steering Committee will hold a dinner meeting following the Networking Event.
The CHN is also proud to support a WUF10 Special Session “Urban Culture and Climate Change Action: The intersection of urban cultural heritage and climate change” on Sunday, 9 February, from 16:30-18:30. The session will be moderated by CHN Steering Committee member Dr. Shipra Narang-Suri of UN-Habitat, with CHN Coordinator Andrew Potts of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) providing closing remarks.
Welcoming remarks will be made by H.E Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, UAE, with keynote addresses by H.E. Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister, Republic of Fiji and Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme. CHN expert Mercedes Cardenas of Ecuador and Gino van Begin, Secretary General of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (which is a CHN Steering Committee member), will participate in a panel discussion, joined by:
Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF
Ahmed Eiweida, Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism, World Bank
Sergei Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow
Bianka Kretschmer, Sr Climate Change Analyst, Adaptation Fund
Throughout WUF10, CHN member Heritage Strategies International will participate in the WUF10 Urban Expo — be sure to check them at at booth H9-32.
Monday, 10 February will be full of action for CHN members at WUF10! France along with the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction will present “Culture and innovation in buildings – for a world below 2°C.” The session will explore how architectural heritage can be a source of innovation in reaching the Paris Agreement and keeping global warming below 2°C. The Climate Heritage Network will participate, emphasizing the need to address not only the technical but also the cultural dimensions of decarbonisation, as well as the imperative for culture authorities to help proactively design GHG mitigation solutions for their communities.
Monday will also feature the side event “Communicating Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Urban Development” (12:30-13:30), a session coordinated by Ege Yildirim of ICOMOS along with Jordi Pascual of the UCLG Culture Committee, another CHN member. Later that day, UCLG and ICOMOS along with another CHN Member, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), represented by Stephen Wyber, will present a session devoted to the “#culture2030goal campaign.”
In addition, Geoff Rich representing CHN member FCBStudios Partner will be speaking as part of the event on “Heritage & Culture-led development: A new paradigm towards Sustainable Architecture” organised by International Union of Architects, African Union of Architects, Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization and the International Federation of Landscape Architects.
Heritage’s role in improving quality of life will take centre stage on 11 February as part of WUF10’s Dialogue 3 on “Tradition and Modernity: A creative convergence for sustainable cities.” CHN Co-Chair Julianne Polanco, director of the California Office of Historic Preservation will speak on “Capturing heritage value in a modern context and life in a developed country context,” while CHN Steering Committee member Andrea Carmen, Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) will discuss “Indigenous communities and a sustainable urban future.” The presentations form a part of the “Pathways to higher quality of life for all in an urbanising world: The place of traditional values, heritage and knowledge” which runs from 10:45 to 11:45am.
The fields of urban and territorial planning are closely aligned with heritage conservation. Planners for Climate Action (P4CA) will present two programs at WUF10 addressing climate change planning in urban culture and heritage. The first is a side event on the theme “Nature-Based and Decarbonizing Solutions in Heritage contexts” to be held on 9 February from 12.30h – 13.30h. Jeff Soule representing CHN member the American Planning Association will be among the speakers.
On 10 February, P4CA will hold a training event entitled “Planners for Climate Action in Urban Heritage Contexts” addressing the importance of nature-based and decarbonizing solutions in relation to urban heritage. Instructors include Eric Huybrechts of the Institut Paris Region, a CHN member.
Climate Heritage Network members will be out in force at WUF10– spreading the word that climate change is a cultural heritage issue; cultural heritage is a climate change issue. Watch for us on social media beginning 9 February and join the conversation using hashtags #ClimateHeritage and #WUF10. And, if your organisation hasn’t already, join the CHN!