• Loss and Damage Research Observatory

Learn and engage

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How can you participate

You have an important role to play in contributing to the online museum of cultural heritage, which is being built to document and share the cultural practices, knowledge, and identities of communities facing the growing threat of climate-related Loss and Damage. Your participation can help ensure that cultural heritage is not lost but preserved, valued, and amplified.

Establishing a Research Steering Committee

To guide this ambitious initiative, the Observatory is establishing a dedicated 'Research Steering Committee' that will oversee the strategic direction of the Observatory, select research initiatives to be supported and ensure alignment with current and evolving needs and priorities in the field of loss and damage. This committee will play a critical role in shaping the impact of the Observatory, guiding research efforts and facilitating policy advocacy and informed dialogue.

  • Capture the voices of your community

    Look around your community and identify cultural practices, traditional knowledge, sacred sites, crafts, festivals, and oral stories that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These might include seasonal farming knowledge, rituals tied to natural cycles, or even materials and techniques used in traditional housing.You can document directly from your community. This firsthand documentation will bear witness to lived experiences of climate impacts, while also capturing cultural events, traditional practices, sacred landscapes, and artifacts that are under threat. Your contributions will ensure that your community’s voice is heard, not just as a story of loss, but also one of resilience and identity.

  • Help preserve traditional knowledge

    Work with elders, knowledge holders, and cultural leaders in your community to digitally record oral histories, indigenous languages, seasonal rituals, agricultural practices, and healing traditions. These elements hold deep ecological and cultural wisdom, and your help in preserving them will also support efforts to identify strategies for protecting this knowledge for future generations.

  • Use simple tools to capture and share

    Use the submission form here to share your entries. You can use a mobile phone to record interviews with elders, take photographs of cultural artifacts, or film local rituals and practices. You don’t need fancy equipment — what matters most is the authenticity of what you share. Try to include details such as the location, people involved, and how climate change is impacting these traditions.

  • Involve others and build awareness

    Encourage youth, elders, and others in your area to participate. When more voices are included, the museum becomes a richer, more inclusive space. You can also use your contributions to raise awareness about climate justice and the importance of preserving cultural identity in the face of environmental change.

  • Tell your story, your way

    Most importantly, this is your story to tell. Share what your cultural heritage means to you and your community, how climate change is affecting it, and why it matters. Your personal voice — your language, your lens, your values — is at the heart of this museum. Through your contribution, you transform individual and collective memory into a robust archive of cultural heritage facing the threat of loss and damage due to climate disasters.

By participating, you help create a living museum that documents what may be lost,as well as what can be saved, revived, and passed on.

Glossary of Key Terms

Cultural Heritage

The customs, traditions, languages, knowledge systems, artifacts, and ways of life are passed down through generations within a community. It includes everything a community values and passes on — from places and objects to stories, skills, and ways of life. It consists of both tangible elements (e.g., tools, clothing, buildings) and intangible elements (e.g., oral histories, songs, rituals).

Tangible Cultural Heritage

These are physical, material objects or places that have cultural, historical, or spiritual significance.

  • Landscapes and Geological Features: Natural areas, such as mountains, rivers, and rock formations, are often considered sacred or culturally significant.

  • Biodiversity: Native species of plants, animals, and ecosystems tied to cultural identity and traditional practices.

  • Monuments: Statues, memorials, or markers commemorating historical or spiritual events or figures.

  • Archaeological Sites: Locations containing historical remains, structures, or artifacts from earlier civilizations.

  • Places of Worship: Temples, churches, mosques, shrines, or sacred groves used for religious or spiritual practices.

  • Buildings: Traditional homes, community halls, or heritage structures with architectural or historical value.

  • Artifacts (Arts & Crafts): Handmade objects such as pottery, textiles, tools, and artworks that reflect the community’s creativity and identity.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

These are non-physical traditions, expressions, and knowledge that have been passed down through generations.

  • Oral Traditions: Stories, proverbs, folktales, and histories spoken and shared within the community.

  • Traditional & Cultural Practices: Rites of passage, customs, and everyday habits rooted in cultural norms and values.

  • Traditional Knowledge: Long-standing environmental, agricultural, medicinal, or spiritual knowledge unique to a community.

  • Artisanal Skills: Specialized craft techniques like weaving, pottery, blacksmithing, or boat-making.

  • Culinary Heritage: Traditional food practices, recipes, and ingredients linked to culture and identity.

  • Festivals & Rituals: Celebrations, ceremonies, or seasonal events that express cultural beliefs and unity.

  • Languages: Indigenous and local languages or dialects that carry unique worldviews and knowledge systems.

  • Music and Literature: Songs, chants, poetry, and storytelling traditions that express emotion, history, and cultural pride.

FAQ section

Share your Entry/Exhibit

Help Preserve Our Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate Change!

We invite you to be part of an online museum that protects and celebrates the cultural heritage of your community, particularly those at risk of being lost due to climate change.Your contribution can become part of a global online museum that values non-economic loss and damage from climate impacts.

  • Sign-up: Create your account by signing up for the registration form with your email.

  • Get authorized: Get your registration authorised by verifying your email, and access the submission form.

  • Document: Use your phone, camera, or voice recorder to document the cultural heritage you would like to submit.

  • Describe: Add a short explanation of what it is, why it matters, and how it’s being affected, and furnish the online submission form.

  • Submit: Upload your entry through the submission form

  • We will verify your entry and approve it, or we may seek additional information if required to make your submission complete.