Ole Jakob Furset is Head of the Museums and Cultural Heritage Section of Arts Council Norway and Chair of the Baltic Region Heritage Committee from July 2021. Arts Council Norway works to develop the museum sector in Norway and advises the government on museum matters. Primary focus areas include developing sector-specific standards, statistics, and skills, as well as digital access to collections via open platforms.

With mitigation and adaptation as two key concepts, the Norwegian chairmanship of BRHC will seek to pursue the main aims of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, with a special emphasis on sustainability and diversity in cultural heritage management.

Helge Drange is a Professor at the University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. Drange’s research background is in natural sciences. He has studied regional and global climate since 1990. He has participated in and coordinated several reseach projects funded by the European Commission, and has contributed to several reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Drange has been co-leader of the nationally coordinated climate research projects NorClim (2007-2010) and EarthClim (2011-2014), and the CLIVAR Working Group for Ocean Model Development (2009-2014). He was a board member of the Official Norwegian Report the Norwegian climate adaptation committee (2009-2010), the Governmental appointed Klima21 (Climate21) committee in 2010, and the Hav21 (Ocean21) committee in 2011-12.

Drange’s research is primarily focussed on Earth System Modelling, development of ocean general circulation models, analysis of inter-annual to decadal variability in the Atlantic-Arctic sector, and sea level variability and change.

Andrew Potts coordinates the Secretariat of the Climate Heritage Network on behalf of ICOMOS, which hosts the Secretariat.  The Climate Heritage Networks links organisations around the world that share a commitment to the role arts, culture and heritage can play in tackling the climate emergency.

Andrew also coordinates the ICOMOS Climate Change and Heritage Working Group (CCHWG). In 2017 ICOMOS committed to mobilizing the cultural heritage community to help meet the challenge of climate change.  The CCHWG was formed to advance that ambitious aim.

In July 2019, under the leadership of Potts, the CCHWG released its report The Future of Our Pasts: Engaging Cultural Heritage in Climate Action.  The Future of Our Pasts Report scoped hundreds of ways in which cultural heritage can drive transformative climate action and catalogued the myriad impacts climate change is having on every type of heritage.

Andrew holds a legal degree from Indiana University in the United States. He previously served as Associate General Counsel of the US National Trust for Historic Preservation and received its National Trust’s John H. Chafee Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy. He also previously served as ICOMOS Focal Point for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Valdur Lahtvee, environmental researcher and consultant, former MP and former Director of Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, has been graduated as Dipl. Engineer on Forestry and has worked more than 35 years on environment protection as legislator, law enforcer, manager of non-governmental organizations and think-tanks, consultant and researcher, senior civil servant within Ministry of Environment as well as of Environmental Manager of National Power Company. Today he is working as Policy Officer for the Secretariat of the Council of Baltic Sea States and his main task was to coordinate Horizontal Action Climate of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Valdur Lahtvee hasbroad and high-level experience on global environmental, sustainability and development issues; he has carried out numerous research projects as well practical implementation of integration of sustainability and environment considerations into the sector policies at national and European level.   

He is registered Environmental Auditor, has been licensed Environmental Impact Assessor and has lectured in Tallinn University and Tallinn Technical University. Valdur Lahtvee has served as Vice-Chairman of Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of EURELECTRIC; Member of Steering Committee of the Green Budget Europe, Member of National Commission of Sustainable Development, Member of National Expert Panelon Climate Change, Member of National Ozone Secretariat, Member of Advisory Board of National Climate and Energy Agency, Vice-Chairman of Friends of the Earth Europe, Board Member of Friends of the Earth International and Chairman of Coalition Clean Baltic.  

Currently he is Member of Estonian National Club of Rome. He is also active at several professional associations like Estonian Association for Environmental Management, Estonian Association of Environmental Impact Assessors and Editorial Board of Science Journal Oil-Shale. Since July 2021, Valdur has been nominated by EC to act a year as European Climate Pact Ambassador. 

He has been awarded by the President of Republic of Estonia for his Contribution to the Society with Order of White Star. King of Spain has nominated Valdur Lahtvee a Commander by Number of Orden of Civil Merit. When serving as Chairman of the Coalition Clean Baltic, CCB at his leadership was awarded prestigious Nordic Council’s Environmental Prize in 2004.  

He has published more than 50 scientific and popular articles on sustainable consumption and production, environment management and use of fiscal instruments for sustainable development.