STRENgthening resilience of Cultural Heritage at risk in a changing environment through proactive transnational cooperation
Natural and man-made hazards, anthropogenic effects and extreme climate change events, are persistently putting natural and cultural heritage under pressure, with an increasing frequency over time. In addition, such disasters and catastrophes impose new and continuously changing conservation challenges and urgently needs for innovative preservation and safeguarding approach, particularly during extreme climate conditions. STRENCH outcomes will strongly contribute and capitalise EU funded projects results to improve capacities of the public and private sectors to mitigate the impacts of climate change and natural hazards on cultural heritage sites, structures and buildings at risk as outlined in the priority 6 of the call. It will be specifically tailored and robustly implemented in order to propose ready-to-use solutions (WebGIS tool, hazard maps, methodology for vulnerability ranking, strategies for disaster risk reduction) for assessing climate change effects in order to define strategies for the protection of cultural heritage at risk, assisting local stakeholders in improving their know-how on the process of definition of priorities of intervention and strategies (preparedness/emergency/recovery).  According to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the European Agenda for Culture, the political development of innovative strategies will be also an asset together with the introduction of cultural heritage preservation in the main political and planning documents for the next programming period. By the achievement of the planned objectives, STRENCH is expected to proactively target the needs and requirements of stakeholders and policymakers responsible for disaster mitigation and safeguarding of cultural heritage assets and to foster the active involvement of citizens and local communities in the decision-making process.