This programme aims to maximise the impact of UK arts and humanities research, supporting cultural heritage and cultural voices as essential parts of climate change planning for the future.
This partnership programme with DCMS has explored preventive and reactive measures, methods and practices that cultural heritage (and the broader arts and humanities) can provide in response to climate change threats across a broad range of communities in developing countries (via in-country partners).
This has produced two main research outputs to explore.
- Safeguarding culture heritage at risk from climate change
- How cultural heritage can support net zero and biodiversity preservation ambitions, for example through solutions derived from local and indigenous knowledge
To date, DCMS has invested £2 million in this programme, and, in partnership with AHRC, has generated research outputs and policy impacts, through 40 partners, for communities across 16 ODA countries. The most recent funding delivered by AHRC on behalf on DCMS is £300,000 for the ‘AHRC Cultural heritage research translated into climate change policy‘ funding opportunity.
Background
In 2020 AHRC and DCMS launched a funding partnership to support research on how developing countries could respond more effectively to the challenges for cultural heritage from natural disasters and climate change. It was funded as a part of UK’s ODA commitment.
Nine awards were made through the funding opportunity, creating a dedicated cohort of projects focused on cultural heritage and climate change. These nine cultural heritage projects were working in ODA-eligible countries, with activities taking place in:
- Nigeria
- Tanzania
- Yemen
- Zimbabwe
- India
- Sri Lanka
- Turkey
- Brazil
Awarded projects covered a range of cultural heritage activities, with a strong focus on developing robust tools and prototypes to protect cultural heritage assets, policy influencing and community engagement.
Follow-on funding opportunities in 2021 and 2022 aimed to enhance engagement and impact activities and encourage the sharing of learning across projects.
Following the completion of the current cohort of projects for the Cultural Heritage and Climate Change programme, a new funding opportunity was developed to expand the programme in a new phase: AHRC Cultural heritage research translated into climate change policy.
This new funding opportunity was designed to encourage and support the formation and translation of cultural heritage in shaping climate change policy. It also provides the platform to strengthen existing partnerships maintained by projects in ODA-eligible countries, offering networking and knowledge exchange opportunities.
Five projects were funded under this opportunity with a focus on Brazil, India, Indonesia and Jordan through in-country partnerships.
Empowering action for climate through collections-based institutions in LMICs
Led by Professor Rodney Harrison, University College London.
This project draws on results and methodologies developed as part of the AHRC-funded Reimagining museums for climate action project, and the ongoing project Petrocultures’ intersection with the cultural heritage sector in the context of green transitions (PITCH) (funded through Horizon Europe with UKRI funding guarantee). Both projects have largely been developed in anglophone and western European contexts.
The project aims to explore their wider application in capacity-building for climate action within the heritage and museums sector in a number of low and middle-income countries (LMICs). It works in partnership with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), an intergovernmental organisation focused on heritage conservation, uses of heritage and training, working with member states around the world.
It draws on ICCROM’s international networks and their Our Collections Matter programme, which focuses on building capacity for collections-based institutions to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and which has been empowering collections professionals since the programme was launched in 2020.
Read more about the project Empowering action for climate through collections-based institutions in LMICs
Approaching climate-resilience through revitalising historic stepwells and blue infrastructures for climate adaptation (H2O-STEP)
Led by Dr Tania Sharmin, Cardiff University.
Promoting the restoration and development of green and blue infrastructure in cities is vital for protecting ecosystem services and human wellbeing amid rapid urbanisation. This project aims to explore the role of blue infrastructure in contemporary cities, focusing on urban heat mitigation and sustainable water conservation and management.
It focuses on Jodhpur’s historic stepwells in the Thar Desert, which have long played a crucial role in mitigating climate impacts and supporting sustainable water management. These ancient groundwater harvesting structures are culturally significant, reflecting the region’s socio-ecological responses to water scarcity.
The research addresses a critical gap in the literature surrounding blue infrastructure and nature-based solutions in India. It will examine the cooling effects of stepwells and assess their utility in water conservation through community-focused research.
The project has three objectives.
- Assess the ability of stepwells to mitigate urban heat by moderating the microclimate.
- Investigate their role in sustainable water management, including rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, and supporting local biodiversity.
- Explore their socio-cultural value and potential for fostering community engagement, water governance, and sustainable urban design.
The socio-technical approach integrates diverse methods: scientific microclimate monitoring and simulations, social-science techniques like interviews, and study of heritage preservation.
By reviving stepwells, this study aims to contribute to both local and global climate governance and sustainability efforts. It offers a model for integrating historic blue-infrastructure into contemporary urban design, enhancing both environmental resilience and cultural vitality.
Mobilising UK cultural heritage and climate change research and energising Brazil’s cultural sector ahead of COP30
Led by Professor Paul Heritage, Queen Mary University of London.
As the climate crisis reaches a critical stage globally with increasingly frequent and devastating climate emergencies, tangible and intangible cultural heritage is becoming recognised as an essential resource.
By enhancing the role of community-based civil society organisations as drivers for sustainable development, culture can support the creation of post-carbon futures and promote inclusive, effective, accountable and gender-responsive development.
COP30, to be hosted in Belém in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, will mark the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, and the anticipated launch of recommendations for culture-based climate action.
Collaborating with grassroots research and activism movement Amazônia de Pé, People’s Palace Projects will connect UK researchers with Brazilian artists, key stakeholders, climate activists, researchers and organisations in a series of workshops and networking events to conceptualise a cultural heritage strategy for COP30.
This will lead to a co-created communications campaign to raise awareness around the role tangible and intangible cultural heritage plays in climate mitigation, action and adaptation.
The proposed activity will support the translation of research into policy, as well as mobilising UK Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Research amongst stakeholders, and energising Brazil’s cultural sector to connect with local and national policymakers ahead of COP30.
Mobilising cultural heritage towards environmental education: a focus on Indonesia
Led by Dr Francesca Salvi, University of Nottingham.
Indonesia is in a particularly fragile position: its reliance on fossil fuel energy as well as its continued deforestation position the country as one of the major carbon emitting markets. Moreover, Indonesia’s peculiar geography as the largest archipelago in the world renders it extremely vulnerable to climate change.
These elements suggest that there is a strong need to identify alternative solutions for Indonesia to embark on a transition that is just, inclusive, and locally effective.
Education plays a key part in this endeavour. For this reason, the Indonesian Ministry of Education is producing policy guidance around climate change and sustainability education (CCSE).
However, most of the resources available globally tend to originate from Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic countries. Although valid forms of introducing climate change scientifically, they present limitations in how they encourage individual lifestyle change, and collective climate actions. As a result, there may be a disconnect between what these resources aim to achieve, and uptake from a population that is culturally distinct from the West.
Addressing this disconnect, this project takes an interdisciplinary and participatory approach to bring Indonesian cultural heritage organisations into the equation by identifying, re-evaluating and embedding cultural resources into an effective CCSE curriculum.
Integrating cultural heritage into climate policy in the Middle East
Led by Dr Bill Finlayson, University of Oxford.
This project in partnership with the Petra National Trust (PNT) will pioneer the integration of cultural heritage and climate policy in Jordan, home to several World Heritage sites, by developing a national policy and setting a proposed regional standard for resilience and sustainability.
The integration of these research areas has not yet been attempted in the Middle East and North African region. This is despite the region’s vulnerability to climate change, especially increasing temperatures and unpredictable changes in rainfall patterns leading to drought and flash flooding, and the presence of globally significant heritage sites.
This project builds on our UK and Jordanian-based research on the impacts of climate change at the World Heritage sites of Petra, As-Salt, the Baptism site and Jericho (where we work with the Palestinian authorities). The project will bring together results from recent and current research into the intersection of climate change, traditional land management systems, the management of cultural heritage, and the impact of significant tourism and development pressures.
The final product of the project will be a policy White Paper arising from workshop debates and aligned with the goals outlined in UNESCO’s ‘Updated Policy Document on climate action for World Heritage’. It will be launched at an event promoted through the regional networks of the ‘Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa’ project at the University of Oxford, and the Petra National Trust. The trust’s president HRH Princess Dana Firas is UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Heritage.