Museum Lolland-Falster is part of the project ARCHER that helps local authorities, heritage organisations, NGOs, and communities in Denmark, Poland and Sweden protect cultural heritage from climate change and human-induced damage thanks to a practical tool to identify risks, prioritise action, and strengthen local resilience.
Cultural heritage plays a key role in building resilient communities in the Baltic Sea Region, but increasing exposure to manmade and natural risks puts local heritage at stake. In this context, ARCHER strengthens community resilience by treating cultural heritage as a core asset for local identity and social cohesion. The project addresses the lack of an intuitive, accessible and low resource tool for identifying and prioritising risks, by providing smaller heritage institutions, NGOs and local authorities with a practical risk assessment tool. Risk assessment is often complex, costly and time consuming, making it difficult for smaller institutions, especially in peripheral areas, to comply with legal requirements due to limited resources and expertise. ARCHER upscales the Risk Assessment Tool (RAT) – a concise, user friendly methodology that adapts existing tools into a practical self assessment tool integrating hazards, vulnerabilities and the heritage and socio economic value of sites specific to the BSR. This ensures that risk analysis strengthens both the protection of heritage and the resilience of local communities. By engaging local communities, the project also builds pride and awareness, powerful drivers of resilience. Beyond the immediate partners, ARCHER’s outcomes can inspire stakeholders across Europe to adopt more sustainable approaches to safeguard cultural heritage.