ICCROM is kickstarting its Heritage Recovery Programme in Mosul, a two-year capacity building programme organized in collaboration with UNESCO and the University of Mosul and with the financial support of the Government of the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.

National Museum, Brazil. Notre Dame, Paris. Shuri Castle, Japan. Table Mountain, South Africa.
Invaluable heritage resources get destroyed in catastrophic fires every year. In most cases, they are highly preventable. In order to develop tailored solutions, it is important to better understand the nature of fire risk for heritage and work with relevant stakeholders.

In recent years, it has been noted that increasing numbers of World Heritage properties are facing pressure from various forms of development - including for examples housing projects, commercial buildings and infrastructures - and other significant changes that affect their Outstanding Universal Value. The World Heritage Committee has seen the impacts of these factors in considerable numbers of State of Conservation Reports and have been requesting impact assessments to inform decision making for many years. As part of their complementary mandates to build capacities of State Parties to the World Heritage Convention, WHITRAP Shanghai together with ICCROM, have organized training courses on Heritage Impact Assessment since 2012.

In the Asia and Pacific region there are various forms of cultural heritage which are of great value from a global point of view. In order to safeguard this important cultural heritage for future generations, it is necessary to train heritage professionals for proper investigation, analysis, and preservation.

The International Training Course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage is a follow-up of the recommendations adopted at the Special Thematic Session on Risk Management for Cultural Heritage held at UN-WCDR (World Conference on Disaster Reduction) in January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.

The People, Nature, Culture course aims at providing an overview of how the management and conservation of heritage places can give them a dynamic and mutually beneficial role in society today and long into the future. This stems from an increasing recognition that heritage places are cared for, used and enjoyed by a wide array of people. Contributions to management, conservation and use of a heritage place come from a variety of sources, including: heritage-sector practitioners; policy makers within institutions; and representatives of communities and networks.

Addressing emerging conservation challenges in the Arab region and integrated approaches to heritage management, ICCROM through its regional office in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in partnership with the University of Sharjah, is offering an inter-disciplinary MSc programme in “Conservation Management of Cultural Heritage”.

Over 60% of museum collections worldwide are at risk because of overcrowding and poor storage conditions. In this situation, museums cannot ensure the protection of their collections, especially in emergency situations. In addition, with up to 90% of their collections hidden away and unaccessible in storage, museums are missing out this essential resource for connecting with their communities.

Culture cannot wait. Whether it is the rescue of ancient manuscripts or the careful salvage of a destroyed heritage building, affected communities will always strive to protect their cultural heritage following a crisis. But where does one start – especially when conflicts and disasters coincide with a health crisis? Are you interested in learning how to safeguard cultural heritage in complex crises, build resilient communities and promote peace?

Amid the current pandemic, many cultural heritage institutions find themselves vulnerable to the risks of fire, flood, typhoons, earthquakes, and other such hazard events. The threats are however, not just limited to natural hazards, but also include man-made causes like looting, chemical explosions and armed conflicts. Often, heritage professionals are confronted with complex scenarios, where one hazard overlaps with another to create an even larger disaster. Recent examples include the floods in large parts of Asia, which coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak, making it difficult for emergency responders to divert already stretched resources to safeguard heritage collections and sites.