Where Cultural Heritage Meets Sustainability
A visionary, idealist, artist, and lawyer, Nicholas Roerich was a pioneer in the global movement to protect cultural heritage, promoting the notion that the creative people of the world bear the responsibility to save the world. His most influential legacy in this regard is the “Roerich Pact”, signed ninety years ago in 1935, aimed at protecting the cultural heritage of the historic monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational, and cultural institutions.
The principles enshrined in the Roerich Pact helped inspire the 1954 Hague Convention, which in turn contributed to the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1945, which works to promote international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication to foster peace and equality. And in 1965, the founding of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Monuments Fund (WMF), which are both dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage art and architecture, with WMF supporting conservation efforts and ICOMOS playing an advisory role in UNESCO's World Heritage Convention.
These institutions, through wildfires, hurricanes, coastal erosion, and despite political aggressive actions to unravel climate action[1], carry forward the belief in the universal value of culture and the responsibility to protect it.
This year, WMF is honoring Andrew Potts, the founder of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), with the 2025 Watch Award at this year’s Summer Soirée, for his groundbreaking contributions to connecting cultural heritage preservation with climate resilience helping to transform how cultural heritage is protected in the face of hastening climate threats that accelerates the deterioration of monuments and sites through a range of processes.
A lawyer by training, Andrew Potts has spent his career at the intersection of heritage, sustainability, and public policy. He previously served as Associate General Counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and received the John H. Chafee Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy.
Since 2015, he has focused on the role of culture in climate action. He currently serves as the Heritage and Climate Action Advisor to Europa Nostra and has previously advised ICOMOS and the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. As Community of Practice Director for the Preserving Legacies project, he leads efforts to advance locally led climate adaptation for heritage sites. In 2024, he helped launch the “Imagining Low Carbon, Just, Climate Resilient Futures Through Culture and Heritage” initiative with support from the Mellon Foundation and will help lead the upcoming Heritage Adapts Community of Action, launching in 2026.
His work has empowered local communities and built international momentum for integrating culture into climate policy at every level.
“Andrew Potts has made an extraordinary impact on the heritage field globally by ensuring that climate action and cultural preservation are seen as inseparable.”
said Bénédicte de Montlaur, President and CEO of World Monuments Fund.
“Through his decades of work—from shaping international policy frameworks to supporting grassroots adaptation initiatives—he has helped center heritage as a vital tool in addressing one of the most urgent challenges of our time."
The Climate Heritage Network is supporting several art shows at museums with a focus on sustainability during May as follows:
1. The Stories of City Birds art show [as part of The Melting Age art show] at the National Lighthouse Museum in NYC and the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum in Havre de Grace, MD by Semine Hazar, Fatma Kadir, Selva Ozelli and Ilhan Sayin which celebrates World Migratory Bird Day on May 10th with a theme of Shared Spaces: Creating Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities.
2. Discus Fish by Selva Ozelli at the HMVC Gallery in NYC and the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum in Havre de Grace, MD celebrates International Museum Day that is focused on the theme of "The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities" highlighting how museums can adapt and play a vital role in navigating sustainable societal transformations.
3. Ocean Lovers by Selva Ozelli at the Gallery 310 Riverside Drive, which once served as Nicholas Roerich’s museum in New York City, celebrates the International Day of Biodiversity with a theme of “harmony with nature and sustainable development." Angelfish, especially saltwater varieties, face sustainability challenges related to climate change, including coral bleaching, altered ocean conditions, and habitat degradation. These challenges, along with other factors like pollution and overfishing, threaten their populations and the health of coral reef ecosystems where they live.
4. Ocean Lovers 2 by Selva Ozelli at the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum celebrates the International Day of Biodiversity with a theme of “harmony with nature and sustainable development."
[1] - https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-and-ending-funding-to-certain-united-nations-organizations-and-reviewing-united-states-support-to-all-international-organizations/
Glossary Terms:
Selva Ozelli Esq, CPA is a legal and finance executive with diversified experience dealing with highly complex issues in the field of international taxation and related matters within the banking, securities, Fintech, alternative and traditional investment funds. Her first of its kind legal analyses involving tax laws, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), blockchain technology, solar technology and the environment and have been published in journals, books and by the OECD. Her writings have been translated into 15 languages.
