UNESCO

Cornelius Holtorf attended parts or all of the following sessions organised during COP26 with relevance to culture and cultural heritage. His own agenda on these issues in relation to COP26 is available here.

1 Nov 2021

• ARTS, HERITAGE, CULTURE: Reimagining our climate journey from knowledge to action (Opening of the Resilience Hub)

2 Nov 2021

• A Culture of Resilience: Launch of the Climate Heritage Network Race to Resilience Campaign (part of the Resilience Hub). See here for a programmatic statement on this new campaign.
• Climate Change Impacts on Cultural and Natural Heritage (part of the EU Pavilion events). This high-level meeting organised by the Government of Greece included, among others, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Margaritas Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the U.S. Department of State, and government ministers of various states.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO

Margaritas Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the U.S. Department of State

4 Nov 2021

• The [uncertain] Four Seasons, concert performed via film and accessible both virtually and at Glasgow Caledonian University

5 Nov 2021

• Culture Pathway to climate resilience and sustainable development (part of the Resilience Hub) asking, among others, about the role of culture in creating resilience. During the session, a new report on ‘The Role of Culture in Climate Resilient Development’ is launched. 

9 Nov 2021

• Cultural Heritage, Resilience & the Built Environment: an intergenerational dialogue (part of the Resilience Hub)

11 Nov 2021

• Powering climate action through heritage policies, organisations, research and public programmes (part of the EU Pavilion events), featuring among others a presentation by Rodney Harrison about the Museums for Climate Action project and exhibition in Glasgow.

On balance, questions about culture and cultural heritage were probably more visible than at any other COP before – the result of a dedicated effort by many people and initiatives. At the same time, the way cultural heritage is discussed in relation to climate change has become much more sophisticated and relevant too, no longer mainly about heritage ending up under rising water levels…