Sustainable Archives and Greener Approaches

ongoing

There is a lack of homogeneous preventive and reactive measures to protect documentary heritage in Europe, in particular towards natural and man-made disasters, as well as towards the consequences of Global Warming on archives, which could lead to a damage and even disappearance of the heritage. In parallel, archival institutions have to reduce their carbon footprint in their day-to-day activities of conservation, digitisation and promotion of European heritage and History. SAGA aims at preparing, improving and testing archival institutions with regard to resilience and recovery against disasters and climate change, developing pilot solutions and joint recommendations for the protection and management of documentary heritage, and fostering the adoption of more sustainable practices. The main purpose of the project is: • To strengthen the preparedness of archival institution towards potential natural and man-made threats. • To develop pilot preventive and reactive methodologies for the archival institutions to apply against unexpected events by implementing new digital tools and policies to reduce damages and safeguard their heritage. • To promote a change of mindset and offer the necessary skills to smoothly move to greener approaches. Thanks to the collaboration between cultural institutions and scientific & academic sectors (architectural, microbiological, sustainability, energy efficiency, socio-economic experts), the partnership will assess disaster effects on archives/documents, buildings and staff (humidity levels, fungus, health affections, etc.) and explore how to improve their management methods to be in line with more sustainable practices and the European Green Deal, incl. promoting the consumption of proximity goods and using sustainable raw materials (biodegradable or recycled) for new merchandising campaigns, as well as create public awareness and visibility around these topics.