Culture Minister Lina Mendoni has underscored the urgent need to safeguard Greece's antiquities from the impacts of climate change.
Addressing a conference in Crete, Minister Mendoni outlined a comprehensive action plan, both nationally and internationally, to develop specific adaptation strategies for major archaeological sites facing climate threats.
A key element of this initiative is a pilot project, funded by the European Recovery and Resilience Facility, aimed at ensuring the sustainability of five high-value archaeological sites by 2025. The ongoing seminar in Crete is pivotal in identifying the climate risks to cultural heritage and formulating adaptation plans, with support from interdisciplinary experts.
The seminar, sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Culture, the U.S. Embassy, and ICOM’s Greek chapter, with academic contributions from the University of Athens, emphasises collaborative efforts to protect cultural assets. This is the third in a series of seminars that bring together specialists from Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, and Malta—countries with rich cultural histories now endangered by climate change. The objective is to foster an exchange of expertise to address these emerging challenges.
Minister Mendoni also highlighted the deepening cultural cooperation between Greece and the U.S., noting the potential for expanding the seminar series to tackle the illegal trafficking of cultural goods. She stressed the current generation's responsibility to ensure that future generations inherit a cultural legacy unaltered by natural or human-induced threats, including climate change.
Read more: Greek antiquties
(Source: Iefimerida)
