Intangible Cultural Heritage and Climate Change: Sustainability and Adaptability in a time of Crisis

It has now been two decades since UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted. A ground-breaking treaty, the Convention brought recognition of heritage as a living, breathing element of human existence, but has it reached its full potential? This article acts as an introduction to our forum edition on the connection between climate change and intangible cultural heritage (ICH). We consider how debates on heritage, and in particular ICH, have increasingly focussed on intersections between tradition and present-day social concerns, including those around the environment. Throughout our introduction, we identify themes discussed by each of the authors in the forum. In doing so, we illustrate how ICH acts as an important method through which to illuminate and potentially tackle challenges around climate change and its impact on society and human culture.