Introduction to the Net Zero Project in-person workshop
In April and May 2023, the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) and other organisations from Brazil, Egypt, India and Sudan are participating in a 3 weeks in-person workshop in Rome and Cinque Terre, Italy, organised to shape heritage focused actions that will contribute to climate action.
The workshop is organised in the context of the Heritage for Net Zero project conceived by the First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis (FAR) programme of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM).
CCFU with other teams from the five selected innovation sites on the Net Zero project are involved in enhancing their capacity in conducting community-based vulnerability and assessments for heritage; mapping hazards and collecting climate variability data; collecting place-specific oral histories to piece together climate stories; and learning how to cross-link data across fields to identify climate-related disaster and conflict risks for people and heritage.
A visit to Cinque Terre National Park, a World Heritage Site
In close collaboration with the Cinque Terre National Park, ICCROM organised a field-visit to Cinque Terre – a series of five villages on the rugged Italian coastline of Liguria. Read more about the Cinque Terre story. The National Park was established to be a tool to safeguard the territory of the Cinque Terre and maintain the natural landscape, while promoting sustainable tourism that is vital to the economic success of Cinque Terre. The experiences from stakeholders and the vulnerability capacity assessment developed with the community was useful to shape participants’ action plans in heritage management in times of climate change.
Using the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples to mitigate the effects of climate change on Ekyisalhalha kya Kororo sacred cultural site on River Kabiri in Kasese, Rwenzori region
Following successful documentation of heritage sites at risk of climate change in the Rwenzori and West Nile regions of Uganda in the previous years, CCFU initiated a project that aims at contributing to efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on Ekyisalhalha kya Kororo sacred cultural site on River Kabiri along the boundary of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, using the traditional knowledge of selected Indigenous Peoples in the area. This project is part of the 5 innovative projects selected to participate in the Net Zero Project.
The project involves generating information on existing oral traditions and knowledge, cultural practices, beliefs and norms that can contribute to mitigating the effects of climate on cultural heritage; strengthening the capacity of the caretakers of cultural heritage site to apply oral traditions, knowledge and cultural practices to reduce the effects of climate change; and trial-testing the inclusion of Indigenous cultural practices in the management principles for the sacred cultural heritage site.
Background to CCFU’s work regarding culture, heritage and climate change.
The effects of climate change are being felt throughout Uganda, in different ways, whether on agricultural production, forestry, the water levels in rivers and lakes, or the receding glaciers in the Rwenzori mountains. Such change also affects cultural sites and their associated values and traditions. Several sites of cultural importance, all associated with significant aspects of the cosmology and values of the concerned communities, have already disappeared.
It is against this background that the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) has been contributing to the preservation (documentation, part-protection and signposting) of the important elements of the cultural heritage of mostly communities in the Rwenzori and Alur regions. This work has mostly been in partnership with the local communities, concerned government agencies, the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) with support from the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund.
CCFU is also a member of the International National Trusts Organisation (a network of national trusts and similar non-governmental organisations committed to preserving cultural heritage) and the Cultural Heritage Network (a voluntary, mutual support network of various entities) committed to tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
