17/06/2026
Desertification does not only threaten the environment. It also puts communities’ collective memory at risk.
On the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, proclaimed by UNESCO and celebrated today, we reflect on a little-discussed effect of the climate crisis: the risk to communities’ collective memory.
When drought and desertification make it difficult to live in a particular area, many people are forced to move. Stories, traditions and identities move with them; movable cultural heritage may also be relocated, exposing it to the risks associated with transportation, or it may remain in its original location: archives, libraries, documents and artefacts may remain in their places of origin, exposed to neglect, decay and dispersal. At the same time, aridity, dust, sand and extreme temperatures accelerate the deterioration of the most fragile materials.
Protecting cultural heritage also means safeguarding the territories and communities that preserve it. Because the climate crisis does not only threaten the environment: it also puts our collective memory at risk.
ALIPH Foundation