WP2 and D.2.1: State of the art policies on government of Cultural Heritage against natural disasters and climate changes

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WP2’s main objective is to develop a set of recommendations, in the form of policies and procedures, aimed at supporting the government bodies responsible for cultural heritage, managing natural disasters and climate change that threaten cultural assets. This WP is led by DGPC and receives contributions from other STORM partners, more precisely SS-COL, UNITUS, CNVVF, Mellor, USAL, NCRS, TRO, DGPC, SMPC, ZAMG, EFARETH, BU-KOERI.

The WP2 activity is essentially divided into two phases. The first concerns the survey and analysis of government scenarios in the five countries where the STORM pilot sites are located. Namely, Greece, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom and Turkey. The information obtained in this stage, together with the results achieved throughout the project, as a result of the collaborative work of all WPs, will allow WP2 to present several recommendations, specifically oriented to the different realities of the countries under analysis.

This WP also intends to promote periodic discussions with several stakeholders, in order to discuss and evaluate ideas to be implemented, contributing to the development of synergies and cooperation among all the stakeholders.

 

The first phase of the WP2 activity ended in November with the submission of a report, where the DGPC presented the state of the art of policies and procedures for the protection of cultural heritage against natural disasters and climate change. The report was based on a survey of the legislation, regulations and procedures related to the activity of the government bodies that are dedicated to the management of cultural heritage, Civil Protection or, in the case of Turkey, the entity responsible for risk management. This information was provided by the STORM partners, in particular through the response to a questionnaire, specifically aimed at identifying gaps and needs in the legal and normative framework of the different countries and entities surveyed. From here on, it was possible to distinguish and understand the organizational and functional structures of Greece, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom and Turkey, as well as their respective forms of cooperation when dealing with disasters.

In all the analyzed countries, the results show that some efforts have been made to protect cultural assets against certain natural threats, mainly through the creation of fire safety plans and the development of prevention and mitigation measures, in the case of earthquakes. However, there is still a long way to go, given that many of the existing mechanisms and resources do not always integrate cultural heritage and are essentially focused on the safety of people. Therefore it is a priority to undertake raise-awareness activities of governments and communities, that address the importance of risk management in cultural heritage, encouraging the development of legislation and possible regulations to be implemented. It is also essential to create synergies between those potentially involved in disaster situations, in order to foster cooperation, especially between those responsible for protecting cultural assets and Civil Protection services. Finally, it was also reported the need to create new technological tools, adapted to specific vulnerabilities of cultural goods and to the different types of economic, natural and cultural situations, as well as to develop training of human resources, in order to improve preparedness in calamity scenarios.

View and download the PDF D2.1 State of the art policies