By Giuseppe Forino, Bangor University, Wales, UK; Lynda Yorke, Bangor University, Wales, UK; Gary Robinson, Bangor University, Wales, UK; Martin Austin, Bangor University, Wales, UK; Katie Sieradzan, Bangor University, Wales, UK; Jennifer Hewitt, Bangor University, Wales, UK
Cultural heritage is part of our everyday life. Not just famous monuments, landmarks, tourist attractions; cultural heritage is also, and mainly, that tangible and intangible heritage which is familiar to us and is locally recognized as an important aspect of the everyday life. It can be a place where we meet friends, a path where we have a walk, a beach where we enjoy the view, the atmosphere, even the silence. It can also be a small weekly market, a vernacular community action, an old square in a town, a landscape, and even a single tree. As part of our everyday life, cultural heritage is vulnerable to potential impacts of climate change-related hazards, for example physical and environmental disruption by extreme events. Therefore, beyond physical loss, these hazards can also lead to the loss of local knowledge, practices, skills, habits, all things that ensure continuity of cultural heritage as part of the everyday life of people. Protecting cultural heritage therefore does not mean just considering the economic value (e.g., tourist revenue) but also its social and cultural role in shaping local identity and everyday life. Cultural heritage in North Wales, with its stunning landmarks, coastlines, landscapes, and towns, makes no exception.
Climate change and cultural heritage through local actors’ lenses
“Climate Change, Cultural Heritage and Communication in North Wales (Clicher)” was an interdisciplinary project aimed at investigating the relationships between climate change and cultural heritage in North Wales. We organised a series of meetings with diverse stakeholders including academics, policy-makers, practitioners, and local communities. We conducted two workshops in February (at the central location of Plas Tan y Bwlch, Eryri National Park) and a final outreach event in March (at Bangor University), with approximately 70 participants. Participants delved into, and shared, their own (everyday) experiences and perceptions of both climate change and cultural heritage. They also discussed issues for cultural landscapes related to climate change in its different aspects (e.g., physical changes, social changes, infrastructure) and how we should do better to take into account local realities when communicating climate change issues to large audiences.
Participants highlighted their attachment to cultural heritage in North Wales, not just to those main spots that became tourist destinations over the last century/decades (for example: castles, beaches and towns around Llandudno, Biwmares, Abersoch, and Barmouth), but mainly and foremost to those places where they spend their everyday life, whether that is a small square, an enjoyable corner in the village, a path people use for exercise, walk with friends or dogs. Participants are aware of local and global climate issues; it is a myth that just climate “experts” know climate change issues. Participants are also already doing something to respond to climate change. For example, some local communities work together to maintain their neighbourhoods in a good state, they clean beaches where they go for walks, they act individually or collectively to locally support people in need, they work closely with local policy-makers to discuss local issues. These are actions that can largely contribute to respond to climate change, as well as to protect cultural heritage, even though they might be not labelled as such.
Even more fascinating than listening to their stories is the contribution of two drawing artists (MorethanMinutes), whom graphically recorded the workshops and generated two drawings (one of which you can see as background image). By listening throughout the day, the MorethanMinutes artists were able to put on paper the collective reflections of that day and summarize points useful for the discussion at the outreach event.
An inclusive and less conventional communication
We believe we gained important insights from participants’ storytelling and narratives around climate change and cultural heritage. Participants shared that yes, they want to be included more in research and policies around climate change. They want to know more from researchers, they want to work more with the policy agenda at different scales. However, this communication cannot just be top-down and cannot just rely on climate data, scenarios and projections. Participants want to have their say, want to share their valuable and expert knowledge as well. They also want to rely on less conventional communication tools such as imagination and arts. Climate data are important, but for more effective communication they need to be shared differently, not just with dry academic standards.
Indeed, the participants highlighted the urgent need to find ways of engaging around these topics (e.g., storytelling and experiential narratives) other than just presenting climate data. These are obviously important, they are the baseline for our knowledge on climate, but listening to those on the ground is also a way to find alternative and more accessible ways for communicating beyond academic publications or data. Participants found this way of exploring issues useful and more engaging, and they hope that academic research can also use these tools for communicating.
Everyday life stories as data
Beyond climate data and physical damage, we need to understand issues on the ground with the inclusion of diverse actors. Storytelling and lived experiences of people count. They do not need to be romanticised, but they are as relevant as climate data. They provide irreplaceable insights for a political and cultural shift which sees policy moving beyond technocratic approaches, towards more life-centred understanding of the world and of its injustice. In addition, the value of arts and drawing as communication strategy outside academia has been immense, and we believe that these approaches must be pursued in climate change and risk communication.
There is a greater need to work beyond our silos, not just in terms of disciplinary ones but outside of the academy. Multidisciplinary approaches should ensure as wide a perspective as possible is brought to bear on these global challenges and yet we must still ensure that underrepresented voices from our communities alongside those key actors in delivering climate change actions (i.e. local governance) are as much a part of the discussions. Solutions to the challenges we face will come from multifaceted and inclusive approaches!
The work discussed in this blog was supported by a Natural Environment Research Council grant for the Clicher project. Ethical approval for the research was given by Bangor University’s Ethics Committee (CoESE 2023GFClicherComm01A).
About the authors: Dr Giuseppe Forino is Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University. Dr Lynda Yorke is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University. Dr Gary Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, School of History, Law and Social Sciences, Bangor University. Dr Martin Austin is Senior Lecturer in Ocean Sciences, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. Katie Sieradzan is a PhD researcher in Physical Oceanography, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. Jennifer Hewitt is an MScRes in Ocean Sciences at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. (Bangor University). Giuseppe was the Principal Investigator, Lynda, Gary and Martin were co-Investigators, Katie and Jennifer assisted throughout the research on the NERC-funded Clicher project.
The cover image for this post is by https://www.morethanminutes.co.uk/.
Suggested Further Reading
Garcia, A., & Tschakert, P. (2022). Intersectional subjectivities and climate change adaptation: An attentive analytical approach for examining power, emancipatory processes, and transformation. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 47(3), 651-665.
Sesana, E., Gagnon, A. S., Ciantelli, C., Cassar, J., & Hughes, J. J. (2021). Climate change impacts on cultural heritage: A literature review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 12(4), e710.
Chmutina, K., Jigyasu, R., Okubo, T., (2020)Special Issue: Securing future of heritage by reducing risks and building resilience SI(1), Disaster Prevention and Management.
Sevilla, E., Jarrín, M. J., Barragán, K., Jáuregui, P., Hillen, C. S., Dupeyron, A., … & Sevilla, P. N. (2023). Envisioning the future by learning from the past: Arts and humanities in interdisciplinary tools for promoting a culture of risk. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 92, 103712.
Torres, D. A. (2021). Community organization for the protection of cultural heritage in the aftermath of disasters. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 60, 102321.
How to Cite
Forino, G., Yorke, L., Robinson, G., Austin, M., Sieradzan, K., Hewitt, J. (2023, 25 September) The need for a people’s perspective when exploring climate change and cultural heritage Geography Directions https://doi.org/10.55203/ZAHZ8138
Geography Directions 
Voglio esprimere il mio apprezzamento e incoraggiamento,mi auguro che tante persone,di ogni cultura e livello sociale leggano questa pubblicazione e si rendano partecipi,sentendosi coinvolte.Le conseguenze del cambiamento climatico,la popolazione dell’Emilia Romagna,come ultimo avvenimento(ma ci sono stati e ce ne saranno altri eventi di distruzione fisica e ambientale legati al cambiamento climatico)hanno vissuto e con l’aiuto di tante persone da ogni parte del nostro Paese stanno tentando di rialzarsi e ricominciare con tutte le loro forze.