As part of this recognition the “Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration on Culture-based Climate Action” proposed at COP27 by the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), argues that culture, from arts to heritage, plays a fundamental role in helping people meet low carbon goals, while contributing to larger climate resilient futures. Culture-based Climate action has the potential to play a crucial role in meeting UNFCCC objectives related to sustainable development and climate crisis mitigation.

The Climate Heritage Network (CHN) echoes the plan to implement cultural heritage in the COP27 cover decision, also called the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan (SHIP). Three decades in the making, a Loss and Damage Fund hopes to rectify the systematic injustice of billions of people who are disproportionately affected by the Climate Crisis, despite being non-contributors of Climate Change.

As described in the recent CHN Newsletter, the SHIP plan acknowledges that “(…) the growing gravity, scope and frequency in all regions of loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, has resulted in devastating economic and non-economic losses, including forced displacement and impacts on cultural heritage, human mobility and the lives and livelihoods of local communities, and underlines the importance of an adequate and effective response to loss and damage.”

The Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe) Initiative was launched in collaboration with this action and recognizes the importance of grassroots and culture-positive action in rapidly developing cities. Culture and heritage are assets to be protected in the face of climate change, can be inspiring resources and/or tools for transformative change.

Founding Principal Mark Thompson Brandt is a former member of the CHN Steering Committee and Co-Chair of its “Building Reuse is Climate Action” Working Group. The CHN is a key international organization that links Heritage Conservation and existing building reuse to climate action.

As charter members, and financial contributors to the CHN, TRACE welcomes the direction of the COP27 contributors as well as various working groups and committees that recognize the value of intangible heritage in the fight to combat Climate Change.