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Stemming the Tide: Global Strategies for Sustaining Cultural Heritage Through Climate Change

In March 2020 Smithsonian sponsored a symposium to tackle two perspectives on the climate crisis’s impact on cultural heritage – the threat to the resources and the value of these resources as a source of resilience for communities to address climate change. The gathering brought together a lineup of inspiring speakers to empower cultural heritage authorities, managers, and advocates to pursue more ambitious engagement and collaborative approaches with to the threat of climate change. This discussion is more relevant than ever.

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The Impact of the Pandemic on Agricultural Landscapes

Everyone agrees that world will look very different after the current crisis. One change that should have been foreseen, but was not widely predicted was the impact on agriculture. The underlying structural problems facing the farming community worldwide were well known, but under appreciated.
Threats such as an aging farmer population, critical labor shortages, global market forces, urbanization, and a changing climate have made this sector vulnerable.

Read More »

While we were not watching…

Understandably attention has been riveted on the spread of the Corona virus. And as is often the case, the controversy over the current administration’s management of visitation to the United States’ National Parks has taken center stage. However, while these decisions have conservation downsides, there are much bigger ongoing efforts to dismantle a host of well-established conservation programs that are still moving forward.

Read More »

Flagging Sites of Universal Value

An Iranian architect and artist has proposed a conceptual initiative to highlight the risk to world heritage sites in Iran and to flag the importance of these irreplaceable buildings and landscapes in a time of heightened world conflict. As it turns out, it is not a completely new idea.

Read More »

Stemming the Tide: Global Strategies for Sustaining Cultural Heritage Through Climate Change

In March 2020 Smithsonian sponsored a symposium to tackle two perspectives on the climate crisis’s impact on cultural heritage – the threat to the resources and the value of these resources as a source of resilience for communities to address climate change. The gathering brought together a lineup of inspiring speakers to empower cultural heritage authorities, managers, and advocates to pursue more ambitious engagement and collaborative approaches with to the threat of climate change. This discussion is more relevant than ever.

Read More »

The Impact of the Pandemic on Agricultural Landscapes

Everyone agrees that world will look very different after the current crisis. One change that should have been foreseen, but was not widely predicted was the impact on agriculture. The underlying structural problems facing the farming community worldwide were well known, but under appreciated.
Threats such as an aging farmer population, critical labor shortages, global market forces, urbanization, and a changing climate have made this sector vulnerable.

Read More »

While we were not watching…

Understandably attention has been riveted on the spread of the Corona virus. And as is often the case, the controversy over the current administration’s management of visitation to the United States’ National Parks has taken center stage. However, while these decisions have conservation downsides, there are much bigger ongoing efforts to dismantle a host of well-established conservation programs that are still moving forward.

Read More »

Flagging Sites of Universal Value

An Iranian architect and artist has proposed a conceptual initiative to highlight the risk to world heritage sites in Iran and to flag the importance of these irreplaceable buildings and landscapes in a time of heightened world conflict. As it turns out, it is not a completely new idea.

Read More »