Art under threat from climate change: U.N. experts

OSLO (Reuters) – Art treasures in tropical nations are under threat from climate change which is likely to speed decay, U.N. experts said Sunday.

“The art world is made of materials that bugs like,” said Jose-Luis Ramirez, head of the U.N. University’s program for biotechnology for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Climate change is a threat because it is going to increase the amount of fungus and bugs in many regions,” he told Reuters of a meeting of experts in Caracas from February 9-12 on new ways to protect art collections.

Much of the world’s cultural heritage is made of canvas, wood, paper or leather which “in prolonged warmth and dampness, attract mold, micro-organisms and insects, causing decay and disintegration,” a U.N. University statement said.

Many museums, especially in tropical nations, lack even air conditioning to protect collections of paintings, sculptures and other art from likely shifts in humidity and temperature, Ramirez said.

Reuters