A/75/298 and the circumpolar Arctic, are often disproportionately affected. 60 Losses reported include the ability to live on ancestral lands; guardianship of sacred sites; folklore, song and dance; traditional medicine; religious rites; and cultural knowledge (including indigenous knowledge and practice). 61 Less documentation, monitoring and analysis of intangible heritage impacts have been undertaken; these are urgently needed. “Identifying knowledge and belief systems at risk must become a priority.” 62 Popular engagement, citizen science and appropriate use of traditional and indigenous knowledge in monitoring processes should be encouraged. 63 35. The documentation for nominations to the lists of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is one potential source for understanding threats posed to intangible cultural heritage by climate change. The forms for nomination to the Representative and Urgent Safeg uarding Lists should contain specific requests for consideration of the potential impact of climate change as among threats to continued transmission. 64 The 2015 operational directives for the 2003 Convention are focused on fostering grass-roots resilience to natural hazards and climate change. States are encouraged to “fully integrate communities, groups and individuals who are bearers of such knowledge into systems and programmes of disaster risk reduction, disaster recovery and climate change adaptation and mitigation.” 65 UNESCO and States parties to the Convention should maximize the use of criterion (v) of the Operational Guidelines for Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, concerning heritage that “has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.” 66 36. Climatic activity has always affected cultural heritage; however, climate change has fast tracked damage, disasters and in some cases disappearance. Climate change fuels the slow, yet progressive eradication of buildings and places of cultural practice and the ability to dedicate time to a full cultural life. Moreover, climate change is a “threat multiplier” which magnifies existing threats to cultural heritage, such as by fuelling poverty, political instability and resource conflicts in which heritage destruction may take place. 67 37. Small island States and low-lying areas face catastrophic climate-induced destruction of their natural and cultural heritage which is often closely tied to broader destruction. The cultural identities and traces of entire nations may be at risk, 68 facing the threat of cultural extinction, including through the total disappearance of human settlements and related ancestral cultures. This threat was created transnationally and requires a transnational response. Those facing such levels of damage to their cultural lives are entitled to robust international solidarity, support, cooperation and compensation __________________ 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 20-10595 See also Douglas Nakashima and others, Weathering Uncertainty: Traditional Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation (Paris, UNESCO, and Darwin, United Nations University, 2012). Available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002166/216613e.pdf. See contribution by Climate TOK project. See contribution by International Council on Monuments and Sites. Ibid. See contribution by UNESCO. UNESCO, “Operational directives for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”, para. 191 (c) (ii). Available at https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/ICH-Operational_Directives-7.GA-PDF-EN.pdf. See https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/. Von Schorlemer, Climate change as a threat to peace (see footnote 51). H.E. Kim, (2011) “Changing climate, changing culture: adding the climate change dimension to the protection of intangible cultural heritage” in International Journal of Cultural Property, vol. 18, pp. 259–290. 11/23