CHeriSH Cultural Heritage Safeguards against Hazards at RIPAM 11 in Palermo

Nearing the end of the two-year CHeriSH component of the C-Match project, team members Ms Annukka Köppen, Ms Lucia Buhagiar and Prof. Reuben Grima attended the RIPAM 11 (Rencontres Internationales du Patrimoine Mediterranean) 2025 conference in Palermo.

The Conference was held over three days in various university and historic venues across the city, featuring presentations, discussions, poster sessions and site visits on “The material and immaterial heritage of Mediterranean cultures: contaminations, stratifications, restorations and valorisation”.

Ms Annukka Köppen presented the newly-developed framework for risk assessment of coastal cultural heritage in relation to climate hazards and impacts. The session brought together multiple contributions on climate risks to heritage in the Mediterranean, with a presentation highlighting the challenges and issues of climate change on tangible and intangible heritage, as well as emergency risk preparedness and recovery strategies following an extreme climate event at an archaeological site.

The contribution highlighted the three stages of the framework:

An empirical analysis of cultural significance and mapping of hazard impacts and vulnerabilities
A quantification and rating of cultural significance and vulnerabilities, together with a multi-hazard comparative risk analysis and
A “CulturalHeritage@Risk” assessment where risk and cultural significance are superimposed.

The presentation focused on the development of the cultural significance assessment, highlighting the method to determine heritage values and character-defining elements in a Matrix and Statement of Significance in order to achieve a consistent and objective assessment of cultural significance, providing assessors with a systematic pathway from identifying values to linking them with character-defining elements.

The objective of CHeriSH is to support decision-makers and public entities in prioritising action by efficiently allocating resources to safeguard the most at-risk coastal heritage assets. It enables strategic preservation and management, focusing efforts on areas where intervention can have the greatest impact.

With the output of the framework, CHeriSH aims to raise awareness of the risks and impacts of climate change hazards on coastal heritage. It provides a comprehensive global evaluation of risk by outlining all factors contributing to that risk in the core output “HeritageValue@Risk” Statement - Summarising the hazards, vulnerabilities, exposures and cultural significance for a specific coastal heritage asset. The framework is being co-designed with key entities and policy-makers through stakeholder engagements to ensure that it will serve their needs and challenges.

The Cherish team includes Prof. Ruben Paul Borg (Lead of project); Ms Annukka Köppen; Ms Lucia Buhagiar; Prof. Reuben Grima; Dr Ritienne Gauci; Chev. Prof. Marc Bonello; Dr Shirley Cefai; Dr Matthew Agius; Prof. Sebastiano D’Amico.

CHeriSH is a vertical component of the Climate-MATCH ‘Mainstreaming of Climate Adaptation for Horizontal Coordination’ initiative (TSI-2023-COMMONCOAST 101145916), funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) following request from the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Public Works (MTIP), and the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness (MEEC) in Malta.