
FERA joins the Global Call to Action to Put Cultural Heritage, Arts and Creative Sectors at the Heart of Climate Action

In December 2023, FERA co-signed the Global Call to Action to Put Cultural Heritage, Arts and Creative Sectors at the Heart of Climate Action.
Underlining that culture has not been integrated into climate policy so far, the joint call urged negotiators gathered at COP UN Climate Conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December 2023, to put cultural heritage, arts and creative industries at the heart of climate action.
It specifically asked for the adoption of a ‘Joint Work Decision on Culture and Climate Action’, a UN process which would launch a process to take stock of how the heritage, arts and creative sectors are already contributing to such efforts, to support creative voices in raising awareness with audiences worldwide, to unite the cultural sectors to scale up action, to advocate for swift action with policy makers, and to support culture through necessary changes.
The campaign is part of an initiative funded by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Culture in partnership with Switzerland-based ALIPH Foundation, an organisation supported by the European Union, a number of Member States and UNESCO among others.
At COP28 in Dubai, a High Level Ministerial Dialogue on Culture-based Climate Action is scheduled on 8 December and could be followed by further discussions at COP29 set to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, and by a consultation with cultural sectors’ stakeholders, with the aim to launch recommendations for culture-based climate action at COP30 in Belém, Brazil on November 2025.
UPDATE
COP28 outcomes included 25+ nations joining the new Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action, the first ever multilateral High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Culture-based Climate Action, and references to cultural heritage and traditional knowledge in the newly-adopted Global Goal on Adaptation, stepping the way for further inclusion of culture in the wider climate action agenda.
However the issue was not addressed in the first global stocktake of climate action under the Paris Agreement (GST), and further mobilisation will be required to secure the Global Call to Action’s objective of a Joint Work on Culture and Climate Action decision ahead of COP29 in 2024.