Climate change represents one of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time, with impacts that extend far beyond the environmental and economic spheres, affecting instead the combination of factors underpinning the well-being of local communities and the survival of ecosystems. The redefinition of policy priorities, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the Covid emergency, is merely the most evident result of a profound reflection on the opportunity to reconfigure production systems, consumption habits, and planning trajectories toward climate neutrality.

Therefore, while the primary objective of the global political agenda is climate change mitigation, territories are instead called upon to define strategies for adapting to the effects that climate change directly or indirectly causes, also bringing into play the resilience capacity of the territorial system itself. This new and more complex perspective also concerns strategies for the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage

The European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (CUEBC) promoted a roundtable to discuss, within the framework of the EU-funded ‘Green Heritage’ project, the impact of climate change on intangible cultural heritage. The event took place on April 12 and 13 at Villa Rufolo in Ravello (SA)

Experts and representatives from local administrations, research bodies, businesses, and associations gathered to discuss 2 key themes:

Traditions, Rituals, and Cults: The Celebration in Honor of the Madonna Avvocata and the Feast of the Ceri in Gubbio

Knowledge and Techniques: The Art of Dry-Stone Walling in the Amalfi Coast

On Friday the 12th, the participants animated the discussion in a private session using the World Café method, starting from a corollary of stimulating questions designed to guide the dialogue and facilitate the emergence of themes and subthemes, perspectives, new visions, strategies, experiences, insights, and further analysis.

On the morning of Saturday the 13th, during a public session, the outcomes of the previous day’s discussion were presented. The final result culminated in a Policy Brief—a series of final recommendations proposing strategies to mitigate the vulnerability risks of intangible cultural heritage in the face of climate change and, above all, suggesting useful actions to generate awareness and proactivity within local communities.