Navigating Climate Challenges through Repositioning Culture and Heritage

This chapter delves into the intersections of culture, heritage and climate change through underscoring the critical role of inclusive governance and sustainability. Drawing on global conversations, such as the International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change which brought together diverse actors and the Alliance for Research in Cultural Heritage in Europe, it highlights the importance of collaborative governance, deliberation and diverse knowledge systems as part of developing actionable policies for climate change and heritage. The author makes a case for sustainability as a means to critiquing ineffective government and siloed approaches. Additionally, she highlights the importance of bridging epistemologies to promote equitable climate responses, introducing the concept of critical positionality as a framework for dismantling systemic inequalities in heritage and climate governance. Through analysis of the entanglement between governance, social sustainability and the environmental crises, this work positions heritage as both a lens and lever for advancing climate justice and adaptive governance.