Enduring Connections

“当我们的遗产似乎面临危险时，我们最珍视它；损失的威胁会促使所有者去管理。”(David Lowenthal，1996)根据政府间气候变化专门委员会的说法，气候变化是我们这个时代面临的最大挑战，抗击其影响是联合国可持续发展的关键目标之一。我们的世界迅速变暖的一个症状是海平面加速上升。由于世界上有1.5亿人生活在距离今天的水位3英尺的范围内，其后果将直接或间接地影响到我们每个人。基里巴斯前总统阿诺特·童将可持续发展与气候变化之间的关系描述为“密不可分”。对于小岛屿发展中国家来说，在规划气候变化的同时应对发展挑战是一场持续的斗争。基里巴斯是太平洋上的一个地势低洼的岛国，其未来的严峻预测往往是基里巴斯的特点。然而，今天影响基里巴斯人民生活的紧迫发展挑战，例如获得清洁水，以及处理越来越多的废物。正如来自环保组织基里肯的克莱尔·安特丽亚所说：“我们在淹死在水里之前，都会被垃圾淹死。”该项目小组将与基里巴斯的基里肯合作，共同设计社区一级的可持续发展方案。这种基层方法将使更广泛的发展领域了解基里巴斯和小岛屿发展中国家面临的具体挑战。如果遗产在其最基本的意义上是关于我们共同珍视的东西，并希望为未来保存，那么遗产领域的学者和从业人员关心环境和可持续发展是完全合乎逻辑的。根据联合国教科文组织最近的一份报告，气候变化对世界遗产构成了最大的风险，但遗产问题在这一领域并没有得到应有的重视。基里巴斯的适应战略之一是为其超过11万人口计划“有尊严的移民”。我们将与基里巴斯的遗产组织进行磋商，以了解他们如何以及是否正在为气候变化甚至潜在的流离失所做计划。这回应了全球保护专业人员，如档案保管员，对他们自己在气候适应中所扮演的角色的更普遍的担忧。是否应该计划搬迁易受气候影响的国家的文化资源和档案？这样的企业如何能够切实地、合乎道德地管理，由谁来管理呢？研究小组还将与艺术家和文化专家纳坦·伊通加合作制作一部唤起基里巴斯丰富文化的电影。这是一项创造性进程的一部分，旨在了解基里巴斯遗产的当地意义，并提高人们对利害关系的认识。总体而言，该项目探讨了在面临快速环境变化或自然环境本身是濒临灭绝的遗产时，“保护”遗产的努力的范围和局限性。当气候变化的影响对基里巴斯这样的国家造成如此灾难性的影响时，我们还能“拯救”什么？谈论可持续发展仍然有意义吗？这个项目通过损失的想法来工作，但重点是联系；具体地说，找到与可能丢失的物品的持久联系，将我们带到未来，关心我们目前与土地、水和非人类生活的联系，并接受污染最严重的国家和脆弱国家之间的道德联系。正如2013年德里可持续发展峰会上阿诺特·童对与会者所说的那样：我们在这里是为了确保彼此孩子的未来，还是只是为了我们自己的孩子？在该项目中，遗产被定位为一个极其重要的专业领域，有助于理解全球面临的重大挑战仍将在当地、任何地方感受到。

'We value our heritage most when it seems at risk; threats of loss spur owners to stewardship.' (David Lowenthal, 1996) Climate change is the greatest challenge of our times, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and combating its impacts is one of the key UN Sustainable Development Goals. One symptom of our rapidly warming world is accelerated sea level rise. With 150 million people across the world living within 3 feet of today's water levels, the consequences will affect each of us directly or indirectly. Former president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, describes the relationship between sustainable development and climate change as 'inseparable'. For Small Island Developing States, addressing development challenges while planning for climate change is a constant struggle. Kiribati is a low-lying island nation in the Pacific Ocean, and is often defined by the grim prognosis for its future. Yet there are pressing development challenges which affect people's lives in Kiribati today, such as access to clean water, and dealing with increasing amounts of waste. As Claire Anterea from the environmental organisation Kirican has said 'we will drown in rubbish before we drown in water'. This project team will work with Kirican, in Kiribati, to co-design a community-level programme towards sustainable development. This grassroots approach will inform the broader development field about the specific challenges facing Kiribati, and Small Islands Developing States more generally.If heritage in its most fundamental sense is about what we value collectively, and want to preserve for the future, then it is entirely logical that academics and practitioners in the heritage field should care about the environment and sustainable development. According to a recent UNESCO report, climate change poses the greatest risk to world heritage, yet heritage concerns are not as prominent as they should be in this field. One of Kiribati's adaptation strategies is to plan for 'migration with dignity' for its population of over 110,000. We will consult with heritage organisations in Kiribati to find out how and whether they are planning for climate change and even potential displacement. This responds to more general concerns amongst global preservation professionals, such as archivists, about their own role within climate adaptation. Should the relocation of cultural resources and archives of climate-vulnerable nations be planned? How could such an enterprise could be managed practically and ethically, and by whom? The research team will also collaborate with the artist and cultural expert Natan Itonga to make a film evoking the rich cultures of Kiribati. This is part of a creative process that aims to understand the local meaning of heritage in Kiribati, and promote awareness of what is at stake. Overall, this project explores both the scope and limitations of attempts to 'preserve' heritage in face of rapid environmental change or when the natural environment itself is heritage at risk. What can be 'saved' at all when the impacts of climate change are so catastrophic for nations like Kiribati, and is it still meaningful to talk about sustainable development?This project works through ideas of loss but focuses on connections; specifically, finding enduring connections to potentially lost objects to carry us into the future, caring for our current connections to land, water and non-human life, and accepting moral connections between the most polluting- and vulnerable- countries. As Anote Tong said to participants at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in 2013: 'Are we here to secure the future of each other's children or just our own?' Within this project, heritage is positioned as a pivotally important field of expertise for understanding that global challenges of magnitude will nonetheless be felt locally, everywhere.