National and regional museums across the UK are reported to have agreed to take collective action on the climate crisis, including managing collections more sustainably and using their position to engage audiences with the issues.
According to available reports, representatives of museums, organisations in the sector and funders took part in the first UK Museum Cop at Tate Modern in London last week. Among those attending were museums and organisations from Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds, Derby, Liverpool, York, Sheffield and London, as well as national bodies from England, Wales and Scotland.
Leading museums and galleries, including Tate are also said to have ended sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies over recent years under pressure from environment campaigners. The British Museum, which did not take part in the Museum Cop, announced this year it had ended its sponsorship deal with BP after 27 years.
In a statement which was described as a “first ever joint commitment for collective action”, museum leaders said that they felt a “responsibility to speak out about the climate and biodiversity crisis”.
Read also: Study shows US and UK militaries owe combined $111bn in climate reparations
The leaders noted that “Museums are “institutions with a long-term view. Many have collections relating to the Earth’s five previous mass extinction events, and we are now in the midst of the sixth, the Anthropocene. UK museum leaders feel they have an ethical obligation to take action to alleviate that damage,”.
They pledged to use their “collections, programmes and exhibitions to engage audiences with the climate crisis and inspire them to take positive action”; to manage collections sustainably; to develop and implement decarbonisation plans; and to increase biodiversity in museums’ green spaces.
Maria Balshaw, who is the chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council, which organised the Cop, and the director of Tate, said: “Museums and galleries have a unique perspective as institutions that have to take a long-term view with their mission to preserve collections and stories for the long future.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
