UCL Qatar

Dr Stavroula Golfomitsou, Lecturer in Conservation Studies at UCL Qatar, is to participate in the upcoming Round Table at the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, entitled Climate Change and its Impact on the Preservation Management of Archaeological Sites.

Climate change is the single most significant environmental threat to the planet, and thereby the lives of future generations.  However, its importance as a threat to cultural heritage assets is less certain.  Consequently, site managers are faced with the challenge of how to respond to this issue, without clear information about the relative significance of its risks.  This event attempts to address this issue. 

The round table is organised by the Initiative for Heritage Conservancy in collaboration with ICCROM (the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), the University of Kent, the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and UCL Qatar. It will be a think tank meeting comprising 12 speakers and approximately 10 discussion partners, all of which are known experts in their field.

The focus of the meeting is to discuss the potential practical implications of climate change on cultural heritage, and to compare the uncertainties in these predictions with those of other risks that commonly threaten archaeological sites.  During the meeting the various presentations will serve to establish baseline knowledge of past climatic effects and risks to cultural heritage; outline current prediction models and management tools; and examine the implications of climate change in different geographic contexts.  Finally, the aim is to assemble practical advice for managers in the field, to help them decide how significant climate change effects are likely to be in their specific context, and plan accordingly. 

The meeting’s outcome will be published in 2013 as part of ICCROM Conservation Studies Series.

To learn more, visit the Initiative for Heritage Conservancy website.