Climate change is a growing threat to cultural heritage in Europe and elsewhere. Floods, strong storms, heat waves, extreme rain, drought and landslides are likely to increase in the future depending on latitude. This will affect monuments, archaeological sites, historical cities, museums, collections and libraries alike. The foreseen rise in sea level causing coastal erosion and invasion of continental zones by salty marine waters are certain to affect the rich coastal heritage. Higher mean temperatures will increase bio-deterioration and cause defrosting of permafrost, affecting fragile artic cultural heritage, often made of wood.
The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Ravello Centre and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication and with the support of ICOMOS-Italy and ICOMOS-France, organised an International Workshop on "Cultural heritage and climate change / Experiences and Ideas for Resilience and Adaptation", in the Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italy, on 18 and 19 May 2017. Scientists, experienced users and policy makers debated the effects of changing climatic parameters on material and structural characteristics of cultural heritage and finalised a political recommendation on the subject. This Workshop also aimed to produce Guidelines for governments, other institutional actors, NGOs and experts on how to better integrate climate change considerations and prevision in the protection and maintenance of cultural heritage. as well as to present results of current work in this field and make proposals for research to identify heritage at risk and preventive measures or action and co-operation.