Values-based Climate Change Risk Assessment: Piloting the Climate Vulnerability Index for Cultural Heritage in Africa [Highlight Notice]

气候变化对全人类的生存构成威胁。理解这种变化并适应它已成为我们这个时代最大的挑战。从海平面上升、更极端的天气事件和干旱，气候对全球遗产地的广泛影响是显而易见的，这种变化的速度是惊人的。在世界大多数地区，损失的速度超过了适应能力，而且这种赤字只会越来越严重，特别是在全球南方。关于保护和保存的决定首先要详细了解一个地方的脆弱性。这些选择将直接影响有效整合保护文化遗产、适应和减缓气候变化以及推动可持续发展目标的能力。必须修改以前的评估方法，以准确地评估文化遗产地及其相关社区在气候变化面前的脆弱性。迫切需要开发以社区为基础的、快速（但有效）的新技术和方法，这些技术和方法必须在全球范围内可扩展。CVI非洲项目旨在解决这一需求。拟议的研究项目的重点是通过在非洲试点一种新的、被称为气候脆弱性指数（CVI）的遗产管理方法原型来培训遗产专业人员。CVI提供了当前和预计的气候变化对遗址遗产价值的物理和生态影响的评估，也提供了气候变化对遗址和相关社区的经济、社会和文化后果的高级评估。该项目旨在使现有的方法适应非洲文化背景，并利用非洲的专业知识，为改进一般的CVI方法提供信息。CVI非洲项目将提供使用CVI方法进行脆弱性评估的基础培训，培训来自中低收入非洲国家的6名遗产专业人员。它将利用英国和国际专业知识开发和提供在线、可转移和可扩展的培训资源给培训参与者。该项目将在尼日利亚（Sukur文化景观）和坦桑尼亚（Kilwa Kisiwani和Songo Mnara遗址）的两个工作坊中达到高潮，这两个工作坊受到气候变化的影响。这些讲习班将包括培训参与者、地方和国家专家、利益攸关方以及国际伙伴，最终将形成一份公开可得和在当地出版的报告。该项目还将通过将许多组织的合作者聚集在一起，并与气候遗产网络（CHN）的新成员和现有成员合作，促进新的关系和鼓励知识交流。气候遗产网络是一个由艺术、文化和遗产组织组成的网络，致力于帮助他们的社区应对气候变化，实现《巴黎协定》的目标。其中包括来自贝尔法斯特女王大学、苏格兰历史环境、高地和岛屿大学以及非洲世界遗产基金会的首席调查员。当地的合作组织包括坦桑尼亚自然资源和旅游部以及尼日利亚国家博物馆和纪念碑委员会。其他国际合作组织包括国际古迹遗址委员会（ICOMOS）、历史英格兰、国际国家信托组织（INTO）和忧思科学家联盟，他们都将在项目培训和/或研讨会参与中发挥作用。最后，该项目将与英国数字、文化、媒体和体育部（DCMS）和其他类似项目合作，制定一个长期和可持续的海外发展援助（ODA）资助的工作流程，以有效应对气候变化对发展中国家文化遗产的影响。

Climate change poses an existential threat to all humanity. Understanding this change and adapting to it has become the greatest challenge of our time. From rising sea-levels, more extreme weather events and aridification, the extensive impacts of climate are evident at heritage sites globally and the pace of this change is startling. In most parts of the world the rate of loss is exceeding adaptive capacity and this deficit is only getting worse, especially in the global south. Decisions on conservation and preservation begin with a detailed understanding of a place's vulnerability. The choices made will directly impact that ability to effectively integrate the goals of safeguarding cultural heritage, adapting and mitigating climate change, and driving sustainable development. Previous assessment methodologies must be revised to accurately evaluate the vulnerability of cultural heritage sites and their associated communities in the face of a changing climate. There is an urgent need to develop community-based, quick (and yet effective) new techniques and methodologies, and these must be scalable globally. The CVI Africa Project seeks to address this need.The proposed research project centres on training heritage professionals through piloting a new, protype heritage management methodology known as the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) in Africa. CVI provides an assessment of the physical and ecological impacts of current and projected climate change on the heritage values of sites and also provides a high-level assessment of the economic, social and cultural consequences of climate change for the site and the associated community. The Project is designed both to adapt existing methodology to the African cultural context and also draw on African expertise to inform refinements in the general CVI methodology.The CVI Africa project will provide foundational training in vulnerability assessment using the CVI method to train six heritage professionals from low and middle income African countries. It will utilise UK and international expertise to develop and deliver online, transferrable and scalable training resources to training participants. The project will culminate in two workshops in Nigeria (Sukur Cultural Landscape) and Tanzania (The Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara) which are impacted by climate change. These workshops will include the training participants, local and national experts and stakeholders, and international partners and will culminate in a publicly available and locally published report.The project will also foster new relationships and encourage knowledge exchange by bringing together collaborators from many organisations and working with new and existing members of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), a network of arts, culture and heritage organisations committed to aiding their communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. These include lead investigators from Queen's University Belfast, Historic Environment Scotland, the University of Highlands and Islands and the African World Heritage Fund. Local partner organisations include the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. Other international partner organisations include the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Historic England, the International National Trust Organisation (INTO) and the Union of Concerned Scientists who will all play roles in project training and/ or workshop participation.Finally, the project will work with the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and other similar projects to develop a longer term and sustainable Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funded workstream, to respond effectively to climate change impacts on cultural heritage focused on developing countries.