ICOMOS Scientific Council Initiative: Global Climate Change and Cultural Heritage

PAMELA JEROME, AIA, LEED® AP
ICOMOS Scientific Council Coordinator

Since September 2006, the Scientific Council (SC) of ICOMOS has adopted an interdisciplinary agenda researching the effects of global climate change (GCC) on cultural heritage. The Scientific Council consists of the presidents of each of 29 International Scientific Committees (ISC) or their designated representatives. The topic of GCC was first suggest at an ISC retreat in Bergen in 2004, and later was adopted as a resolution at the 15th ICOMOS General Assembly in Xi’an, China in October 2005. Since then, four regional meetings took place in 2007 along with a SC-organized one-day symposium in Pretoria, South Africa that led to the Pretoria Recommendations. In Quebec in October 2008, a follow-up workshop further explored the SC’s initiative. Each scientific committee’s interpretation of the effects of GCC on cultural heritage has resulted in proposals for monitoring and adaptation.