At the Italian Pavilion in Belém, Giulia Galluccio (ATEC Director and Vice-Chari of JPI Climate) highlights how cultural and natural heritage, and the transformative power of education, can drive more inclusive climate action.

On 15 November at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the side event “Entangled Destiny: Trees and Humans of the Mediterranean” examined the intertwined cultural and ecological resilience of Mediterranean landscapes, highlighting the deep and enduring relationships between people and trees. The discussion shed light on how these connections shape livelihoods, identities, and the biocultural heritage of Italy and the wider Mediterranean region.

As part of the Italian Pavilion’s programme at the AcquaPraça, the event showcased how Italy’s biocultural landscapes embody resilience, innovation, and cooperation – principles that underpin global climate action. The session began with an interactive activity in which participants shared personal experiences and emotional connections with nature, encouraging individual reflection and collective storytelling. These insights prepared the ground for a panel discussion where experts explored how human-tree relationships can inform sustainable land management, biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation strategies, and heritage preservation. Speakers emphasised the importance of safeguarding cultural and ecological heritage amid changing land-use patterns, technological evolution, and globalisation, through strategic management, community involvement, and adaptive reuse.

Among the speakers who took part in the discussion, Giulia Galluccio, Director of the Advanced Training and Education Centre at CMCC and Vice Chair of JPI Climate, contributed with a perspective centred on the role of cultural and natural heritage as powerful connectors between people, landscapes, and climate resilience. It has been highlighted how addressing climate change requires bridging scientific research with cultural identity, traditional knowledge, and community memory, making climate action more meaningful and more inclusive.

The long-standing collaboration between JPI Climate and JPI Cultural Heritage, a partnership that has evolved over years and led to a joint international call now funding 16 transdisciplinary projects, has been underlined as well, stressing how these initiatives are essential to connect climate science, heritage preservation, and local knowledge, and demonstrating how research at the climate-heritage interface can support more resilient societies.

Looking to the future, she also presented the new European Partnership on Resilient Cultural Heritage, a major 10-year initiative involving around 90 organisations across Europe, to which CMCC and JPI Climate will contribute by advancing research at the nexus of climate change, resilience, and tangible, natural, and intangible heritage.

A central focus of her intervention was the role of education, intended as a transformative driver for cultural safeguarding and climate resilience, as well as s strengthening factor for long-term cultural heritage preservation. She highlighted that “Building climate resilience passes through accessing information and data: people need to have knowledge to feel empowered.” Education, she explained, is essential for transforming knowledge into action and passing it on to younger generations, ultimately fostering a community of scientists capable of shaping their own local contexts. In this sense, creating climate literacy is fundamental to building resilient communities.

The event concluded with three key messages:

• Trees are cultural heritage agents that have shaped Mediterranean landscapes, economies, and spiritual traditions.
• People and ecosystems share a common fate: the health of Mediterranean ecosystems and livelihoods is closely interconnected, and revitalising tree-based systems is essential for climate resilience and food security.
• Nature-based solutions must be grounded in traditional ecological knowledge, particularly the agroforestry and land-use systems that have defined Mediterranean landscapes for centuries.