PROCULTHER (2019 – 2021): The final conference on December 15
The final seminar will take place starting from 2 p.m. via webinar.
Today, Wednesday 15 December, the Final Conference of the Project Protecting Cultural Heritage from the Consequences of Disasters - PROCULTHER, the initiative carried out under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), coordinated by the Department of Civil Protection and co-financed by the Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations of the European Commission - DG ECHO, to promote the development of a common methodology and shared operational procedures to improve the protection of cultural heritage in case of emergency.
The Head of the Department of DPC, Fabrizio Curcio, will welcome more than 80 delegates from 17 countries of the UPCM, Chile, Mexico and Switzerland, to overview the results achieved by PROCULTHER and promote its implementation, collect impressions and future expectations.
The Civil Protection authorities of the PROCULTHER Consortium Partner Countries (Italy, France, Spain and Turkey), together with the International Centre for the Study of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ICCROM) and with the participation of the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe, have been able to verify the good practices developed in years of experience in the field, pooling their expertise in favor of a shared European approach, with the aim of improving emergency preparedness and response procedures, including the protection of cultural heritage in all phases of the risk management cycle.
During the Conference the key results achieved by the Project will be presented, also thanks to the proactive commitment and keen interest of the community of experts working in the field of risk management and the cultural world of the Member States and UCPM Participants: the document "Key Elements of a European Methodology to Address the Protection of Cultural Heritage During Emergencies" - the common Methodology for the protection of cultural heritage in emergencies proposed by the members of the PROCULTHER Consortium to improve preparedness and response activities for the safeguarding of cultural heritage in emergencies. This is a "pilot" training course on the protection of cultural heritage in emergencies held in November 2021 addressed to experts in the field, for the elaboration of the terms of reference of a standard capacity, composed of experts in risk management and professionals of the cultural world, dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage in emergencies, and that can be developed by all Member Countries of the Union for possible deployments in the framework of UCPM.
The final part of the meeting will be dedicated to future perspectives, with interventions by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe.
Representatives of the two Directorates-General of the European Commission involved in the Project, the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO) and the Directorate-General for Culture (DG - EAC) will intervene to provide a contribution on the results and potential long-term effects of the Project.
The final session will be dedicated to new challenges and recent initiatives of the Mechanism, including the EU Civil Protection Knowledge Network designed to bring together relevant national structures, centers of excellence, researchers, universities, knowledge centers and international organizations for a multidisciplinary approach to emergencies.
The Conference is also expected to feature messages from representatives of the project's Consortium Partners: Webber Ndoro, Director General of the International Center for the Study of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ICCROM), Hamza Tasdelen, Deputy Head of the Civil Protection Authority of Turkey (AFAD), Gaëlle Lugand, of the General Directorate for Civil Security and Crisis Management (France), Gumersindo Bueno Benito, Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Regional Government of Castilla y León (Spain), and Fabrizio Boldrini, Director of the Fondazione Centro Studi Villa Montesca.
Also, the Civil Protection Department has already led as leader the project Protecting Mediterranean Cultural Heritage during Disasters - PROMEDHE, also co-financed by DG - ECHO and dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage in case of emergency in the Mediterranean area.