At COP28 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Brazil have announced the launch of the Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action at the UNFCCC (GFCBCA), an international coalition of UN Member States aimed at building political momentum for the recognition of culture as a powerful force in climate change policy.
The Group of Friends will provide a useful platform for highlighting the critical and often neglected socio-cultural dimensions proposed by the Global Stocktake synthesis report. This international coalition of UN member states aims to:
- Promote international consensus on the urgent need to include culture in climate change policy.
- Address the threat that climate change poses to indigenous cultural sites, traditional practices and knowledge systems.
The launch of the Group of Friends co-chaired by the United Arab Emirates and Brazil, hosts of COP28 and COP30 respectively, is an important step towards the ambition to put cultural heritage, arts and creative sectors at the heart of climate action. The establishment of the Friends Group stems from the Global Call to Put Cultural Heritage, Arts and Creative Sectors at the Heart of Climate Action, which was launched on 28 September 2023 during the European Cultural Heritage Summit held in Venice, Italy.
The coordination of the campaign “Global Call to Action” is being implemented by the Climate Heritage Network‘s working group. Europa Nostra and the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Athens is actively involved in the dissemination of the call, in the framework of the European Heritage Hub pilot project.
