Emergency Preparedness and Response

ICOM is committed to supporting museum professionals in times of crisis and equipping them with the skills to build their resilience and preparedness in the face of emergencies. As the frequency of natural disasters, political unrest and armed conflicts rises globally, museums and museum professionals are faced with unprecedented risks to their collections and their livelihoods.

Extreme weather events, often driven by the escalating climate crisis, as well as armed conflicts are creating very real, existential threats to our common heritage. In times of conflict and political instability and in contexts where livelihoods are insecure, cultural heritage also becomes especially vulnerable to theft, looting and illicit trafficking.

These challenges create significant barriers to practicing due diligence and providing appropriate care for collections. ICOM is actively working to empower professionals with the tools and knowledge they need to safeguard their collections, and therefore, our shared cultural heritage.

With a large network of over 60,000 members in 129 countries and territories (2024), ICOM is active in a wide range of museum- and heritage-related disciplines. The huge range of expertise present affords ICOM a unique position in heritage protection, allowing the organisation to create links within and beyond the network, coordinate action, communicate about emergency events as they unfold and publish calls for action. ICOM also shares tools and resources with the museum community and takes steps to provide translations so that these resources reach a wider audience.

Within its membership, ICOM has 34 international committees that are each dedicated to specific areas of museum expertise and thematic priorities. Several of these committees can advise in case of emergency response and preparedness for museums.

Through their extensive network of experts, ICOM-Conservation provides essential resources, guidance, and coordinated efforts to protect and recover cultural assets in times of crisis.

ICOM-Conservation’s experts offer practical advice for safeguarding collections before, during, and after disasters, covering a wide range of risks including water damage from floods, structural damage from earthquakes, and fire-related losses. By consulting ICOM-Conservation’s resources freely available, professionals and communities can take proactive steps to protect cultural heritage and minimise damage in the event of a disaster.

In times of crisis, ICOM-Conservation is available to support cultural heritage responders with up-to-date information, expert networks, and recovery strategies. They are committed to helping preserve the world’s cultural legacy for future generations, ensuring that heritage survives and thrives, no matter the challenges.

ICOM-Conservation website

ICOM Documentation’s data standards, recommendations, methods, and guidelines are geared toward building access to information about museum collections, within internal systems and across platforms; access that can act as a precautionary, safety mechanism in case of disaster.

In the event of an emergency, ICOM Documentation can assist with the assessment of collection data loss, data recovery, ensuring backup plans, and re-establishing collections metadata and documentation procedures. They can help with providing guidelines for cataloguing and other documentation, information on data semantics, and documentation training modules for staff.

ICOM-Documentation website

ICOM Security is a specialised group that is dedicated to promoting and enhancing security measures and disaster resilience within the museum sector worldwide. ICOM Security works to address the unique challenges and vulnerabilities faced by museums in protecting their valuable collections and ensuring the safety of visitors and staff. ICOM Security provides resources, guidelines, and best practices for museum security professionals, as well as opportunities for networking and collaboration. Through research, training, and advocacy, ICOM Security aims to raise awareness of security issues and promote innovative solutions to safeguard cultural heritage.

Museums are increasingly at risk of natural and man-made disasters as well as being the target of theft, vandalism, and terrorism. ICOM Security plays a vital role in helping institutions develop comprehensive strategies to protect their assets and preserve cultural treasures for future generations.

ICOM Security website

The ICOM International Committee on Disaster Resilient Museums (DRMC) gathers museum-related professionals to help museums deal with cultural heritage emergencies. It works to limit and contain damage through preventive conservation measures, risk mitigation and rapid intervention. DRMC can liaise with the international community (local and international institutions) to share information and cooperate for improved risk management. DRMC can also support long term capacity building for museum professionals and fosters the development of regional networks.

International Committee on Disaster Resilient Museums Facebook page

INTERCOM offer free online publications dealing with leadership in crises, management and governance.

INTERCOM website

The Heritage Protection Department at ICOM’s Secretariat, located in Paris, undertakes a wide range of activities which contribute to the protection of cultural heritage.

The Department also monitors emergency situations affecting museums internationally, creates links with experts and ICOM’s national committees as needed and attends coordination meetings to advocate for museum professionals at international level.

The Heritage Protection Department produces the ICOM Red Lists, a flagship programme to identify cultural objects that are most at risk of theft and illicit-trafficking.

The Department is partner and coordinator in several current and past projects that address emergency response and preparedness for museums and combat the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage. ICOM is coordinator of the EU-funded PRISM project which marks the next phase of the International Observatory on Illicit Trafficking and is partner in the Horizon 2020 project ANCHISE, which develops and implements new digital tools to fight the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage. In the past, the ALIPH-ICOM projects in Cote d’Ivoire and in the Sahel region provided training for museum professionals in documentation and security for museum collections.

To read more about successful past actions and ICOM’s communication around cultural heritage emergencies, read the following news items:

One year of supporting Ukrainian museums and their professionals

ICOM’s National Committees swift response to floods occurring across the world

Together with ICA, ICOMOS and IFLA, ICOM is one of the four founding organisations of the Blue Shield. For this reason, ICOM is actively participating in Blue Shield Board meetings in order to support the Blue Shield’s actions in protecting heritage in armed conflicts and natural disasters, and to providing post-crisis support. ICOM has also chaired the Blue Shield Accreditation Committee for several years supporting the creation of new Blue Shield National Committees.

ICOM also maintains regular dialogue with several organisations working internationally in the protection of cultural heritage. This regular dialogue helps ensure a complementarity of actions and the strength of the network.

These various actors respond to diverse needs, in many kinds of contexts and each represent specific strengths in emergency situations.

Among the key organisations with whom ICOM maintains relations are:

International Council on Archives – ICA

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions – IFLA

International Council on Monuments and Sites – ICOMOS

International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage – ALIPH(Mou)

International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property – ICCROM (MoU)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – UNESCO (MoU)

Cultural Emergency Response – CER

Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative – SCRI

For more information on this topic, feel free to contact the Heritage Protection Department of the Secretariat heritage.protection@icom.museum