Washington, Feb 9 (IANS) Biotech scientists have teamed up with curators to stem the decay of world’s art and cultural heritage, hastened by the depredations of climate change.

Many of the world’s cultural treasures are created out of organic materials like paper, canvas, wood and leather which, in prolonged warmth and dampness, attract mould, micro-organisms and insects, causing decay and disintegration.

‘With the world financial crisis and the advent of climate change effects, there is a state of emergency at the museums of several tropical countries…,’ informed Alvaro Gonzalez, director, Venezuela’s Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation, which is hosting the four-day UN affiliated event.

New biotechnology techniques that will be deliberated upon, include the use of micro-organisms to remove fungus and other problems on artwork, photos, documents, masonry and more.

‘The normal concern about single artefacts is no longer paramount. Storing and protecting entire collections safely has become a priority and scientists have a key role: developing techniques and procedures that are fundamental to heritage conservation,’ said Jose-Luis Ramirez, director of United Nations University’s Programme for Biotechnology for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNU-BIOLAC), an event sponsor.

Giancarlo Ranalli, professor at Universitá degli Studi del Molise in Pesche, Italy, for example, will describe his successful use of micro-organisms instead of chemicals to remove black crusts, nitrates, sulphates and other alterations from masonry, as well as unwanted animal glue from important painted frescos in Pisa and elsewhere in Italy subjected to well-intentioned but ill-advised restoration and preservation attempts in the 1980s.

His masonry restoration work has included the base of Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini and the Cathedrals of Milan and Matera.

Similarly, Sofía Borrego Alonso of the Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba, said using costly chemical biocides to combat infestations of micro-organisms and insects, the principal agents of biodeterioration of cultural documents, not only harms the people that apply them, they accelerate the materials’ deterioration.

She will advocate the use of natural, plant-derived products successfully tested in Cuba’s National Archives.

Spanish researcher Nieves Valentin Rodrigo of the Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural de España, Madrid, takes the idea a step further, promoting the use of micro-organisms as bio-sensors to forewarn curators of potential risks to art objects from such threats as pollution and dust levels.

She said fungi and bacteria can be harnessed to warn of significant environmental fluctuations and the impact of too many visitors.

Besides biotechnologies, experts will revisit ancient ideas such as the Japanese technique of preserving frail items within multiple boxes. And they will highlight the potential use of styrofoam packaging to economically protect items from rising heat, humidity and other environmental hazards, said an UNU-BIOLAC release.

The Institute of History of Cuba will describe its innovative method to assess objectively the state of heritage photo and document collections, while experts from the Philippines will outline their system of ranking artwork restoration priorities.