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The 5^th Shanghai Archaeology Forum

第五届世界考古论坛·上海

Archaeology of Climate Change and Social Sustainability

气候变化考古与社会可持续发展

The 5^th Shanghai Archaeology Forum will be held from the 15^th through the 18^th of December 2023 in Shanghai, China. It is organized by the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai University, and Shanghai Academy, under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

由中国社会科学院与上海市人民政府共同主办，中国社会科学院考古研究所、上海大学、上海研究院共同承办的第五届世界考古论坛将于2023年12月15日至18日在中国上海举行。

THEME 论坛主题

2023 is shaping up to be one of the six hottest years on record – even the hottest across many parts of the world. This alarming surge in record-breaking temperatures primarily stems from continued emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases – a phenomenon principally driven by human activities such as coal, gas, and oil combustion.

The impacts of global warming are increasingly palpable, manifesting in severe heat waves, intensified flooding, extended drought, powerful hurricanes, widespread deforestation, uncontrolled wildfires, accelerated melting of polar ice caps, rising sea levels, extreme weather events of unprecedented scale, crop failures, a drastic loss of biodiversity, escalating levels of air pollution, emergence and resurgence of infectious diseases, health deterioration, mass migration and population displacement, and a disturbing increase in social inequality and polarization. The impacts of climate change are global, but the Global South has suffered the most devastating consequences.

Today we face an unprecedented climate crisis. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns of the rapidly escalating greenhouse-gas emissions that may soon surpass the adaptive capabilities of numerous communities worldwide. Inaction in this climate emergency will increase human vulnerability, precipitating poverty, food insecurity, forced displacement, political instability, and conflict. The stakes are high and concern the survival and prosperity of human societies globally.

Immediate ambitious emissions reduction and assertive adaptation measures are urgently needed. However, these actions require a transdisciplinary effort to understand the long-term impact of climatic change on human well-being, evaluate and identify meaningful and effective solutions to the climate crisis and associated global challenges, assess the implications of climate change across cultures, and formulate sustainable development strategies to prevent catastrophic consequences. As we grapple with the complexities of changing climate, we must broaden our understanding and readiness for both expected and unexpected threats. We can only aspire to secure a sustainable future by adopting a comprehensive approach to these challenges.

Contrary to the common assumption that human experiences with ancient climatic shifts bear no relevance in our industrialized world, understanding our past, particularly through the lens of archaeology, can yield invaluable insights into societal adaptation to long-term climate changes. Despite facing the substantial challenges climate change presents, past societies adopted diverse strategies to cope with and adapt to these changes. Natural climate archives and archaeological records offer unique vantage points for observing and understanding how humans have responded to diverse climate events, such as sea level changes, prolonged droughts, and abrupt temperature shifts. These records form an empirical basis for modeling and predicting how climate change could shape and transform our lives, helping us search for sustainable trajectories toward the future.

Current climate discourse often overlooks the importance of cultural diversity in climate change adaptation. Our long-term survival depends not solely on biological adaptation but significantly on cultural solutions to environmental challenges. Therefore, documenting and preserving cultural diversity is of paramount importance.

We stand at a critical juncture, confronting a global climate crisis of unprecedented scale. How we act and respond now will indelibly decide the future of all life on Earth. The archaeology of climate change and social sustainability, capturing a wide spectrum of how past human societies adapted to climate change, offers viable alternative strategies for a global community grappling with the climate crisis. Our long-term survival depends on understanding and learning from the lessons of our shared past.

2023年，预计将是历史上最为炎热的年份之一，世界许多地区的气温或将创下历史新高。这股骇人的热浪，主要源于人类无节制地燃烧煤炭、天然气和石油所造成的温室气体的持续排放。

全球气候变暖的影响日益显著，譬如极端天气事件的频繁出现，洪涝、干旱、飓风、森林火灾的愈演愈烈，极地冰帽的加速消融和海平面上升，农作物歉收，生物多样性的急速丧失，空气质量的连续恶化，传染病猖獗，人口流离失所、健康状况的日益恶化，以及社会不平等和贫富分化的加剧。

人类正面临着人类历史上最严峻的气候危机。政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）的最新报告警告我们，温室气体排放量急剧增加，可能很快会超过全球许多地区的适应能力。若我们对此无动于衷，人类社会将变得愈加脆弱，贫困、食品安全、流离失所、政治不稳定和冲突等问题将随之而来。无疑，气候危机已直接威胁到全球人类社会的生存和繁荣。

对此，我们急需采取行动，全力削减碳排放，积极制定应对气候变化的策略。然而，这需要跨学科的共同努力，深入理解气候变化对人类福祉的长远影响，确定应对气候危机及相关全球挑战的有效解决方案，评估气候变化在不同文化中的影响，并制定可持续发展策略，以避免灾难性后果的发生。在努力应对复杂多变的气候变化时，我们必须加强对预期和非预期威胁的了解，并做好应对准备，才能确保未来的可持续发展。

有一种误解认为，人类对古代气候变化的经验与当前工业化时代所面临的气候危机并无可比之处。然而，考古学的视角却提醒我们，了解过去，可以为应对现在和未来的气候变化给予宝贵的经验。古代社会也曾经历气候变化带来的挑战，它们采取的应对和适应策略，为我们提供了宝贵的历史经验。自然气候档案和考古研究为认识人类如何应对海平面变化、长期干旱和气温骤变等各种气候事件提供了独一无二的视角。这些材料是实证的基础，使我们能够模拟和预测气候变化如何塑造和改变人类的生活，帮助寻找未来可持续发展的有效途径。

当前就气候变化问题所进行的讨论，常常忽视了文化多样性在适应气候变化中的关键作用。我们的生存不仅取决于生物适应，还在更大程度上依赖文化手段应对环境危机和挑战。因此，保护和记录文化多样性至关重要。气候变化的考古学研究展示了人类适应的各种可能性，为应对全球气候危机提供了备选策略。毫无疑问，人类的长期生存将主要依赖于从我们共同的过去中汲取的经验教训和智慧。

THE FORUM’S OBJECTIVES 论坛目标

The 5^th Shanghai Archaeology Forum has three primary objectives:

(1) to celebrate the excellence of archaeological research by presenting the SAF Awards to those individuals and organizations that have achieved distinction by making major discoveries and producing innovative, creative, and rigorous works in the past four years (2019-2023);

(2) to promote archaeological studies of climate change and social sustainability; and

(3) to encourage active engagement with scholars across different continents and disciplines as well as the public in addressing the challenges of climate crisis for our collective future.

We kindly invite scholars worldwide from archaeology and other relevant disciplines to participate in the 5^th Shanghai Archaeology Forum for an engaged discussion regarding challenges in the archaeological study of climate change and social sustainability from transdisciplinary and long-term perspectives. The discussion emphasizes but is not limited to, the following issues: methods and theories in the archaeological study of climate change and social sustainability, case studies in human responses and adaptations to climate change, cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation, urban resilience and climate change, the crisis of unintended consequences, human ecodynamics of social sustainability, global warming and human health, the impacts of climate change on and through cultural heritage, and future directions for integrating archaeology into global change research.

第五届“世界考古论坛·上海”的论坛目标如下：

（1）评选和表彰过去四年（2019-2023）全球范围内的重大考古发现和研究成果。评选强调新思想、新理念，有创新的实质性发现和研究。

（2）促进气候变化和社会可持续发展的考古学研究和探索；

（3）推动不同国家和不同学科背景的学者们积极交流、合作，并提高公众的参与度，协力应对气候危机所带来的全球性挑战。

我们诚邀全球考古学及相关领域的学者参加第五届“世界考古论坛·上海”论坛，就应对气候变化与社会可持续性考古研究的关键问题进行深度讨论，强调跨学科及长时段研究的视野。讨论包括但不限于以下议题：气候变化和社会可持续性发展的考古研究方法与理论，人类应对和适应气候变化的案例研究，文化多样性和本土知识在气候适应中的作用，城市韧性和气候变迁，社会可持续性的人类生态动力学，全球变暖与人类健康，气候变化对文化遗产的影响，以及将考古纳入全球变化研究的发展方向等。