Across the globe, the omission of culture and heritage from climate adaptation policy and finance is a barrier to scaling up work to protect these community assets from climate-related risks -- but the new
(known as the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience or "UFGCR") adopted at the 2023 UN Climate Conference (COP28)
That’s because the UFGCR framework, which aims to guide the efforts of governments and others to protect people and ecosystems from climate change, for the first time includes the protection of heritage sites and cultural practices as a thematic target and also includes provisions that stress the importance of traditional knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge across all adaptation action.
This breakthrough recognition in international climate policy creates an opportunity to better securing climate finance for heritage adaptation projects and seats for culture and heritage advocates at local, regional, and national climate policymaking tables. The
Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance (HACA) was launched to ensure that this potential is realized through robust engagement by culture and heritage advocates in the implementation of the GGA/UFGCR.
A joint project of Preserving Legacies and the Climate Heritage Network, HACA is a volunteer community of practice open to all advocates, knowledge holders, researchers, and practitioners working on culture, heritage and climate adaptation who want to actively collaborate on contributing insights from their work to the GGA/UFGCR implementation policy process. Through the HACA online platform, HACA members can:
- Receive up-to-date information about opportunities to participate in the implementation of the GGA/UFGCR and access a library of GGA information.
- Collaborate on the submission of research and insights to the UN Climate Agency (the UNFCCC)'s new UAE – Belém work programme to develop UFGCR indicators, including possibly indicators for measuring progress in protecting heritage sites and cultural practices from climate change.
- Help mainstream GGA heritage policy outcomes into national policy and help local communities leverage them for effective, equitable adaption of their cultural heritage and communities.
- Join informal discussions to assess the current state of knowledge on adaptation of cultural heritage and efforts to fill gaps.
The UNFCCC aims to consider key UFGCR provisions at the November 2025 UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil. With less than 18 months to have your voice heard, join HACA today!
