The conservation profession originated around material culture. It has built up a corpus of knowledge and a vast amount of information concerning materials and their behaviour, and options for their care.
Today, as societies around the world are under pressure to come up with more sustainable relationships with our material world, the conservation field can contribute in a new way to shaping these relationships.
ICCROM works with institutions and professionals in its Member States to build training activities that pool existing knowledge and join efforts to address emerging challenges at an international level. An on-going updating of our understanding and skills in relation to our material world strengthens the role of heritage and heritage professionals as a sustainable resource.