Day 2
To protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change to support the needs of the present and future generations.
Key questions
What are the main current programmes to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and how can they be mobilized through collections-based organizations?
How can the negative impacts of collections-based organizations be reduced in line with the needs of climate action and biodiversity conservation? How can they promote and be part of low-carbon, low impact lifestyles for everyone, rather than high-carbon activities?
Unlocking the potential of heritage collections to address the triple planetary crisis
The triple planetary crisis, climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, pose interconnected threats to environmental stability, public health, and cultural continuity. This presentation explores how collections-based organisations, including museums, libraries, and archives, can be mobilised as scientific and educational assets in addressing these challenges. Drawing on UNEP’s latest assessments and foresight tools, it highlights how heritage collections provide critical environmental data archives, biodiversity baselines, pollution records, and models of cultural adaptation to environmental change. Highlights the dynamic role of collections for enhancing climate literacy, interdisciplinary research, and sustainable innovation. Practical pathways are presented for collections-based institutions to reduce their operational footprint, digitise holdings for global access, collaborate across sectors, and integrate climate education into public engagement.
Climate Induced Loss and Damage Specialist, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Chawanangwa Nyirenda is the Climate-Induced Loss and Damage Specialist with the UN Environment Programme, shaping UNEP’s position and strategic direction on Climate-Induced Loss and Damage, and providing support to member states in the application of Loss and Damage within diverse national contexts. He, has extensive experience in climate change adaptation programming, locally led adaptation programming, sustainable agriculture, climate change communications, and loss and damage research
12:20-12:50 (CEST)
Multilateral agreements as practical tools for environmental action with collections
This presentation will highlight how the main multilateral environmental agreements can be used as practical tools by organisations, and even by individual collections workers, to guide their work. By adopting the high-ambition goals of these agreements, tailoring our actions towards their goals, and using them to monitor, evaluate and communicate our actions, organisations and individual collections workers can contribute directly and concretely towards the big challenges facing people and nature today.
Museum Consultant, Curating Tomorrow, UK
Henry McGhie runs the UK-based consultancy Curating Tomorrow, working to empower museums and similar institutions to contribute to sustainable development agendas, including the SDGs, climate action, human rights, Disaster Risk Reduction and biodiversity conservation. He has worked as a consultant on ICCROM’s Our Collections Matter programme and on the EU-funded project TOWCHED, and as a consultant for the ICOM Award for Sustainable Development Practice in Museums.
Youth Hold the Future: Reimagining Heritage for a Just World
Museums, libraries, and archives are not neutral—they shape the stories we tell about our past, present, and future. In the face of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and environmental injustice, these institutions must move beyond preservation and become spaces for action. Drawing from my work as a youth climate justice activist and advisor to the Natural History Museum of London’s Generation Hope program, I explore how collections can be reimagined to amplify marginalized voices, confront colonial legacies, and inspire change. By bridging science with lived experience, these institutions can help build the just, regenerative future we need.
Climate Justice Organizer, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, Philippines
Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a full-time climate justice activist and organizer from Metro Manila, Philippines. Mitzi’s activism is grounded in love for people and the planet, a deep connection with nature, and a belief in collective care and solidarity. Through organizing, global solidarity, and cross-movement collaboration, she fights for systemic change and is committed to the collective work of world-building—co-creating more just, sustainable, and equitable futures for all.
Partnerships: A Joyful Requisite for Climate Action
SDG 17 is Partnerships for the Goals. The presentation focuses on Target 17H: Encourage Effective Partnerships, where public – private and civil society teams are so important. Partnerships are foundational for all climate work, and they help explain how a small team of museum professionals, can learn and do enough, fast enough, to accelerate climate action in museums. The three examples of multi-partner work on funding, decarbonization research and public engagement demonstrate how being a part of these cross-sector teams provides the capacity, expertise, and reach to tackle bigger issues than ECP could alone. These partnerships provide the resources and the solidarity to do important work even during the tough times. The shared commitment and the progress make all the difference. There is joy in the teamwork and the results.
CEO, Environment & Culture Partners (ECP), USA
Sarah Sutton is co-founder of Environment & Culture Partners, a US nonprofit advancing cultural sector climate action. She is the co-author of The Green Museum, and author of The Arts and Humanities on Environmental and Climate Change. Sutton was one of 100 global representatives who advised the IPCC, ICOMOS, and UNESCO on the role of cultural heritage in IPCC Assessments. ECP organizes the cultural sector for America Is All In.
Contributions of Ecuadorian herbaria to sustainable development
Associate Professor of Botany/Associate Curator, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam/UTCEC Herbarium, Ecuador
Ecuadorian botanist with a PhD from Drexel university. She has 35+ years of experience, more than 70 publications and is a member of several international scientific societies. A former collaborator at the Missouri Botanical Garden (Saint Louis) and Academy of Natural Sciences (Philadelphia). Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam and an Associate Curator at the Applied Botany Herbarium UTCEC at Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi (Ecuador).
Planet Kids Club and Museum Collections 2025
This presentation highlights the innovative integration of cultural heritage and sustainability education through the Planet Kids Club (PKC) initiative at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Library in Doha, Qatar. Established in 2021, PKC engages children aged 5–10 through monthly story-based sessions themed around environmental stewardship, linked directly to museum collections. The program aligns with Qatar National Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 17 (Partnerships).
With an inclusive and interactive format, PKC fosters early environmental awareness and literacy while encouraging community participation. Key collaborations with institutions such as VCU-Qatar, the National Museum of Qatar, and Dr. Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots network have extended PKC’s reach and impact. Strategic marketing through social media and influencer partnerships has significantly boosted engagement, achieving over 334,000 impressions in a single campaign.
This model positions museums and libraries as dynamic agents for change—bridging education, culture, and climate action. The presentation concludes with a call to replicate the PKC model globally, supported by freely available online resources and a strategic vision for heritage-based sustainability education.
Head of Library, Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar
Head of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Library and Information Officer for the IFLA Art Libraries Section. With more than 20 years of experience in public and specialized libraries across North America, Europe and the Gulf, she specializes in library management and fine arts. Since 2012, she has led MIA Library, ensuring seamless access to resources for scholars and students. Passionate about art and culture, she fosters an academic environment that promotes learning and research, making MIA Library a key hub for exploring Islamic art.
The WiNoDa data competence center: Activating natural history collections for a better future
Natural history collections harbour an extensive amount of information related to biological life on Earth over the last few centuries. However, their potential to inform research, policy and society is not fully realized due to several types of barriers, ranging from difficult data access to missing competences. Reducing such hurdles is the goal of the WiNoDa Knowledge Lab, an interdisciplinary data competence centre focused on scientific collections and object-related data. The project offers several types of educational formats, focused on data extraction, management and analysis, while also promoting the principles of Open Science. Two examples of recent events are presented: first, a webinar on the Animal Sound Archive of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, which is a powerful open access resource for biologists and conservationists working with bioacoustics; second, an event for the conclusion of the KIEBIDS project, in which researchers developed an AI pipeline for extraction of biodiversity-relevant information from collection labels. Through its different formats and offers, the WiNoDa Knowledge Lab is establishing a multidisciplinary community that is enthusiastic about data science and collections, with the aim of unlocking the potential of natural history collections for research and society.
Community manager, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany
Ginevra Bellini is the Community Manager of the WiNoDa Knowledge Lab at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. In this role, she can combine her experience in natural sciences with her passion for outreach: in parallel to her PhD in Plant Ecology, Ginevra presented her research in several science communication events. At the moment she is responsible for curating the WiNoDa community while raising awareness on the potential of collection data.
12:50-13:05 (CEST)
13:15 – 14:00 (CEST)
Founder-Director, Living Waters Museum, India
Sara has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and more than 30 years of research experience on water, culture and society in India and South Asia. In 2017, Sara launched the Living Waters Museum as a digital repository archiving India’s diverse water heritage. She is currently one of the vice-presidents of the Global Network of Water Museums endorsed by UNESCO-IHP.
Executive Director
International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC)
With a background in regeneration, sustainable development and community engagement, Sarah is a champion of leadership and sustainability in the conservation of cultural heritage. She fosters international collaboration and has led transformative initiatives focused on climate action from global leadership programmes like ‘Innovate’ funded by the Getty Foundation, to convening a joint commitment between ICCROM and ICOM-CC as part of the UN’s climate conference COP, showcasing the important role of conservators in responding to climate change.
Founder, The Climate Academy, Belgium
Co-Founder and Vice President, Climate Rights & Justice International
Stacey Alvarez de la Campa is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Climate Rights & Justice International (CRJI), an organization which seeks to improve the representation of Indigenous and marginalized voices in discussions about the effects of climate change. CRJI also advocates for a human rights-driven policy response to the climate crisis. She is a legal and educational consultant and environmental activist with a background in Literature & Linguistics, Law, Education, and Climate Justice.
14:10-15:15 (CEST)
15:15-15:30 (CEST)
