European Green Deal meets cultural heritage

EU recommendations for Cultural Heritage Resilience

New EU-report Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change includes 10 recommendations and 83 best practices from 26 countries. There are increasing hazards we have into take account where protecting cultural heritage, such as floods and other natural disasters.

For example we need increased resilience against torrential rain. The safety measures to protect valuable sites against different scenarios in the future can require installation of a drainage system, a containment net barrier, a flooded torrent barrier and a catch barrier. Several anti-erosion measures have also been implemented in the wider area, like they’ve done in Slovenia.

Through whole Europe we have to find solutions that contribute to energy efficiency in historically valuable buildings without destroying or damaging the historical value of them, including decoration, furnishings, interiors or equipment.

Best practices pass on traditional skills

The report highlighted various examples of best practices. I picked up two of them as an example: one of them is Norway. Norway is illustrating the point that the cost of upgrading older buildings is lower and more sustainable than constructing new buildings. The other one is Croatia and it’s art of dry stone walling, which prevents flooding and avalanches, and demonstrates the importance of passing on traditional skills to the next generation.

Next year is the European Year of Skills 2023. It is an opportunity to highlight and promote traditional skills and crafts. Here in Finland the key actor on this field is Taito. It is named a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage expert organization. In the next Suomen kädentaidot fair for crafts, starting 18.11. in Tampere, will be launched the next years skill. It is always something we all can learn and use! Luckily we Finns are eager to DIY – do it yourself. These skills will be needed also in the future.

 The living heritage of crafts includes both the knowledge and the skills needed – to make handicrafts from various materials, whether it is building a house, restoring old furniture or knitting woolly socks.

The report says, that we also need public awareness. Symbols of the values of humanity, solidarity, tolerance, integration and intercultural dialogue are even more important in today’s united European value system, underlining symbolic importance of the region. Cultural heritage helps us to remember who we are and why. That is how cultural heritage also helps us to tackle the climate change.

Rosa Meriläinen

secretary general