On last 20-21 September, the Italian Civil Protection Department-DPC, as PROCULTHER-NET coordinator, met in Rome with the Project Partners and main representatives from the national working groups for the Initial Planning Meeting entitled “Building a Cultural Heritage Protection focused thematic community within the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network”.
The Project Consortium representatives (1), together with experts from the Civil Protection Authority of the Region Castilla y León-Spain, the Portugal National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection (ANEPC), and from the Ministries of Culture of France (also representing the Center for Research and Restoration of French Museums-C2RMF and Blue Shield France) Portugal, Spain and Turkey, were the 35 participants who appreciated the first event held in presence since the beginning of this initiative and seized this wonderful chance to share their vision of the thematic Community for the protection of cultural heritage at risk within the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network- KN.
After the institutional greetings from Ms Giulia Temperini, Coordinator of the International Activities and Relations Unit of the DPC, Mr Giovanni De Siervo introduced the participants to the core topics at stake and the expected results from the meeting. Before getting to the crux of the matter, two speakers from the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations- DG ECHO, Ms Giulia PIZZIO, Project officer of PROCULTHER and currently focal point for cultural heritage protection, and Mr Guillermo Griem, PROCULTHER-NET project officer within the KN, intervened in virtual mode to inform on the priorities and actions that the thematic Community should address in the short and long-term also considering the latest challenges faced by the European Union in this field.
Then the floor passed to the Partners and stakeholders that shared their respective national and institutional/organizational perspectives and exchanged elements to elaborate on the objectives, structure and content to be promoted within the PROCULTHER-NET Community.
Afterwards, Ms Silvia Chiesa and Mr Dario Irrera, from UNISOB, completed the preparatory framework with the presentation of the findings from the survey circulated in June to collect and identify the needs, priorities and suggestions for developing the technical and structural elements to be addressed by this thematic Community.
The Participants were then ready to exchange ideas in the framework of a session dedicated to “Pointing out the key element for setting up the PROCULTHER-NET Community” organised in parallel with the main meeting in order to outline its objectives, governance, structure and functioning, as well as the conceptual and operational elements that the Community will be called to deal with. Whatever its structure and functioning, its design will be aimed at satisfying needs and interests in view of its existing and developing capacities, best practices and lessons learnt at European level, as well as the proactive engagement of all actors and stakeholders relevant to the objectives of the initiative, namely civil protection and cultural heritage authorities, academia and scientific centres, international and humanitarian organisations.
The second day, 21 September, opened with a presentation on PROCULTHER-NET’s new set of objectives, and related technical, administrative and communication challenges. Based on the survey findings and the meeting conclusions, Partners and stakeholders’ insights suggested a way forward to the PROCULTHER-NET Community, then a last joint work session allowed the participants to agree upon the roles and responsibilities for carrying out the project activities and adapting the work plan according to the next actions.
(1) The Italian Civil Protection Department, as coordinator, ICCROM- International Center for the Study of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of the Interior-Authority for Disaster and Emergency Management-AFAD (Turkey), German Archaeological Institute-DAl (Germany), Ministry of the Interior-Directorate General of Civil Security and Crisis Management-DGSCGC (France), Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca- FCSVM, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Government of the Castilla y León Region-JCyL (Spain), Federal Agency for Technical Relief-THW (Germany), UNISOB-University Suor Orsola Benincasa (Italy) and University of Porto-UPORTO (Portugal).
