Looking Ahead to Future Challenges

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CCI Newsletter, No. 30, November 2002

Looking Ahead to Future Challenges

by David Grattan, Manager, Conservation Processes and Materials Research

As we attempt to peer into the future, a few general trends are becoming evident.

The repatriation of Aboriginal and other ethnographic collections will require conservation professionals with new and specialized training — not only in the wide variety of materials found in these collections, but also in the unique needs of traditional material culture within Aboriginal communities.

Dealing with 20th-century artifacts (thought to be long-lasting but turning out to be ephemeral) will require new knowledge and new approaches to conservation. And with the growing dependence on electronic media as a repository for our heritage, keeping up with format changes, reliability, and storage capacity will be essential.

Changes in the world situation may increase the demand for emergency conservation services. Climatic changes that increase severe weather such as storms, flash floods, and lightning strikes will result in more damage. An increasingly multicultural world is likely to see more ethnic conflict, and more damage to cultural property. Both situations will require that CCI augment its disaster response capability. On the positive side, an increased capacity to preserve cultural heritage will help to support cultural diversity throughout the world.

To balance these demands, it is likely that conservation science equipment will improve. This will make it possible to conduct more analyses in real time and with more immediate results. It will also allow conservation scientists to conduct more work on-site.