A/75/298 cultural fields on the other. This is a gap that must be filled. The negative impacts of climate change on human cultures and on the enjoyment by all of their internationally guaranteed cultural rights, and the positive potential of our cultures and the exercise of our cultural rights to serve as critical tools in our response to the climate emergency, must both be placed on the international agenda and be subjects of further study. 15. Sweeping cultural change will be necessary to alter the trajectory of catastrophic climate change. The status quo is unsustainable. Since culture is not static, 24 such change – if participatory and carried out in line with human rights standards – is a part of the enjoyment of cultural rights. More attention must be given to fostering the transformational, paradigm-shifting change that experts have stressed is needed to address climate change, 25 to changing rapidly the way we live, produce and consume, and to doing so in a rights-respecting way, as well as to coping with any negative side-effects that may result for cultural rights. The aim of the present report is to contribute towards achieving these priority goals and bring together some important work already undertaken in the field. 16. Even as it is imperilled, culture remains an important key to successful climate adaptation. Traditional knowledge about how to interact with and care for na tural systems is indispensable. Indigenous understanding in particular will be pivotal to stabilizing the climate. Contradictory on the surface but often complementary in practice, a rising culture of change pushes for local and global responses that prioritize climate mitigation and adaptation through changed consumer behaviours, new green infrastructure and a just distribution of access to resources. Implementing these pre-emptive changes will be critically important for effectively preserving the climate as humans have known it throughout the history of the species. 26 “Society’s response to every dimension of global climate change is mediated by culture.” 27 17. This includes the cultural underpinnings of the causes of climate change, as well as adaptation, mitigation and interpretation of science. “Culture itself is a process that allows us to understand, interpret and transform reality.” 28 Culture shapes climate change and in turn climate change transforms culture. 18. Climate change and cultural rights share a clear nexus. Culture is closely connected to ecosystems, especially for indigenous peoples, rural and “traditional” populations. Both cultures and the environment are often place-based. 29 “Culture influences our understanding of the environment and our relationship with it on a deep level. Concern for the welfare of future generations is already explicitly environmental; it should also be cultural.” 30 19. The work of cultural rights defenders, human rights defenders who defend cultural rights in accordance with international standards, is a sine qua non for protecting cultural rights and cultures from climate change, and for developing and __________________ 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 6/23 See A/HRC/14/36, paras. 30 and 34. See A/74/161, para. 16. Justine Massey, “Climate Change, Culture and Cultural Rights”, memorandum, University of California, Davis School of Law, 20 May 2020. W. Neil Adger and others, “Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation”, in Nature Climate Change, vol. 3 (2013), p. 112. United Cities and Local Governments, “Culture 21: Actions – commitments on the role of culture in sustainable cities”, approved by the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments at its first culture summit (Bilbao, 18–20 March 2015), para. 2. Climate Change and Cultural Heritage Working Group of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, The Future of Our Pasts: Engaging Cultural Heritage in Climate Action (2019). United Cities and Local Governments, “Culture 21: Actions”, p. 24. 20-10595