Call to Action for COP28 - Culture at the heart of Climate Action
ICOMOS, as a founding signatory, is asking the national governments that are parties to the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement to adopt a ‘Joint Work on Culture and Climate Action’ decision (JWD) at the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP28). Artists and cultural voices from across the world are uniting to call for climate negotiators at COP28 to put cultural heritage, arts and creative industries at the heart of climate action.
The world is far off track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement: seeking new solutions is imperative.
Culture and heritage shape our lives in many different ways and have the potential to help us imagine and realise low-carbon, just, climate resilient futures.
- Cultural heritage, including traditional knowledge, strengthens resilience, helps communities to adapt to climate impacts, protects places, and offers green, circular and regenerative solutions.
- The arts speak to hearts and minds, inspire action and help us understand climate change through storytelling and shared experiences.
- The creative industries – design, music, fashion and film – shape our lifestyles, tastes and consumption patterns.
The initial JWD would direct the UNFCCC and its Subsidiary Bodies to jointly start a 1 year consultative process to address issues related to arts, culture, and heritage through workshops and expert meetings, taking into consideration the vulnerabilities of cultural heritage to climate change and approaches to culture and heritage as a driver of climate action.
Did You Know? ICOMOS x Climate Heritage Network (CHN)
ICOMOS’ support of CHN stems from its dual role of Secretariat and founding member. As Secretariat, ICOMOS contributes to the exchange of information among CHN members regarding culture-based climate action and to the development and promotion of tools to mainstream culture into international climate policy.