The meeting brought together 20 international heritage experts on climate change from 15 countries with the aim of discussing the update of the “Policy Document on the Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Properties”, adopted by the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention in 2007. The group included representatives of the three Advisory Bodies, UNESCO, governments, research institutions and civil society. The meeting was funded by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and organised in cooperation with IUCN, ICOMOS, ICCROM and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
The expert group was tasked to discuss the implementation to date of the 2007 policy document, the potential contents of an updated policy and to provide inputs to the further process. The recommendations of the expert group will feed into the process of updating the policy document, as requested by the World Heritage Committee in 2016 and 2017 (Decision 40 COM 7 and 41 COM 7).