Act
Be part of the solution to protect our heritage from climate change
At Preserving Legacies, we believe in the power of community-led climate action, and that every person has a part to play in preserving our legacies from climate change – including you.
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Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance
Across the globe, the omission of heritage from climate change adaptation policy and finance is a barrier to scaling up work to protect culture and heritage from climate-related risks. But the new Global Goal on Adaptation Framework (GGA) adopted by national governments around the world offers an opportunity to begin fixing this problem. The GGA Framework guides governments in their efforts to protect people and ecosystems from climate change, and includes the protection of heritage sites and cultural practices as one of its seven thematic climate adaptation targets. This breakthrough recognition of heritage in international climate policy offers a path to climate finance for heritage adaptation projects and to including heritage advocates in local, regional and national climate policy making. The Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance has been launched to ensure that this potential is realized through robust, timely engagement by heritage advocates in the implementation of the GGA.
A joint initiative of Preserving Legacies and the Climate Heritage Network, HACA is a volunteer community of practice open to all community advocates, knowledge holders, and heritage practitioners working at the intersection of heritage and climate adaptation. Through the HACA online platform, HACA members can:
Receive up-to-date information about opportunities to participate in the implementation of the GGA and access a library of GGA information.
Collaborate on the submission of research, insights, and experiences to the UNFCCC’s UAE – Belém work programme to develop GGA indicators, including for measuring progress in protecting heritage sites and cultural practices from climate change.
Help mainstream GGA heritage policy outcomes into national policy and help local communities leverage them for effective, equitable adaptation of their cultural heritage.
Join informal discussions to assess the current state of knowledge on adaptation of cultural heritage and efforts to fill gaps.
Make a Difference in Climate Policy
We can reach further when we work together. That’s why Preserving Legacies is leading the Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance at the nexus of climate change and cultural heritage – and we want you to join. We welcome cultural practitioners, professionals, researchers, advocates, local leaders, and those passionate about climate change and cultural heritage to help us shape global climate change adaptation policy for heritage.
Community of Practice
As climate change impacts grow, those who care for heritage places are increasingly being called upon to assess risk and plan adaptations. We are building the Community of Practice to help people like you in every community, big and small, to take action – and in so doing, to transform the conservation field from the status quo to one that is meeting the needs of the climate emergency.
Domain: A domain of knowledge creates common ground, inspires members to participate, guides their learning and gives meaning to their actions.
Community: The notion of a community creates the social fabric for that learning. A strong community fosters interactions and encourages a willingness to share ideas.
Practice: While the domain provides the general area of interest for the community, the practice is the specific focus around which the community develops, shares and maintains its core of knowledge.
Join the waitlist to join the Community of Practice in 2025
In Spring 2025, Preserving Legacies will launch its global Community of Practice on climate change and cultural heritage. As a member of our Community of Practice, you will be able to connect with others working on similar issues, exchange ideas on topic-specific forums, and develop expertise, skills, and proficiency in managing climate impacts to heritage sites through live-stream events. Register for our newsletter to be the first to know when our platform is launched in 2025!
Climate Literacy Training
Good decisions about climate change should be based on a good understanding of the issue. Climate change represents one of the greatest threats to cultural heritage, yet very few heritage professionals receive any specific training in this area. Climate change literacy is an understanding of our impact on the climate and how we can best respond to climate change. In the context of cultural heritage, it seeks to explore the intersections between cultural heritage and climate, exploring both how climate change impacts cultural heritage, but also how cultural heritage can contribute to climate action.
Preserving Legacies, in collaboration with ICOMOS, has designed the first ever climate literacy course for heritage organizations and professional teams. It is run over two days and can be delivered either remotely or in person. The aim of this course is to provide participants with a solid foundation upon which they can begin to build meaningful climate responses in their practice and has been delivered to funding agencies, professional heritage organizations, sites and academic institutions.
Learn more about the Preserving Legacies Climate Literacy training here.
Contact
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Applications Open Annually
Apply to the Preserving Legacies Cohort Program
The 2025 application period for the Preserving Legacies Cohort Program is now open! From November 1, 2024, to January 3, 2025, you can nominate custodian individuals or organizations for a place of cultural significance to join a passionate cohort of individuals determined to protect cultural heritage against climate change.
In partnership with ICOMOS, the Climate Heritage Network, and the National Geographic Society, Preserving Legacies is a global initiative that equips heritage custodians with climate heritage training, professional connections, and resources to implement climate adaptation actions that protect heritage places. In 2024, Preserving Legacies partnered with 20 remarkable heritage places worldwide, each a testament to resilience. With each cohort, we grow a dedicated community of practice committed to securing a sustainable future for heritage in every corner of the world.
What’s involved?
This program spans three years, designed to create lasting impact:
- Year 1: custodians from each community, individuals that care for heritage places, complete a one-year of comprehensive climate training. Through online learning modules, discussion sessions, and in-person workshops, custodians strengthen their climate knowledge, capacity, and professional connections.
- Year 2: custodians apply that training to lead a climate risk assessment for their community. Risk assessments help communities map what they value most about their heritage, visualize the current and projected climate hazards they might face, and evaluate which of their community's heritage values are most at risk to those climate hazards.
- Year 3: custodians use their risk assessment as a guide to design, implement, and test climate adaptation solutions that are specifically tailored to their communities and cultures. These climate solutions strengthen community resilience, break ground on adaptation efforts to protect sites, and mainstream culture and heritage into regional, national, and international climate policy.
Learn more about our programming here.
Why apply?
Preserving Legacies offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for heritage custodians and local leaders to become champions of climate resilience at their sites. Here’s what you can expect from this transformative program:
- Professional Training: Receive a free-of-charge, 12-month training program specially tailored for heritage professionals led by leaders in the ICOMOS community. Through this program, you’ll master the essentials of climate science, risk assessment, and adaptation strategies focused on safeguarding cultural heritage. Our modules are designed using a plural knowledge system, inclusive of local and Indigenous Knowledge systems, ensuring that the solutions you develop reflect the specific needs and values of your community.
- Experiential Workshop: Enjoy a paid trip to an in-person experiential learning workshop, where you’ll connect with peers, experts, and leaders in the field. This immersive experience is designed to expand your hands-on skills in climate adaptation, engage in cross-cultural knowledge exchange, and strengthen your resilience toolkit.
- Risk Assessment Resources & Support: In the second year, you’ll receive team support, financial resources, and scientific advising to lead a climate risk assessment for your heritage place. You’ll have access to data and scientific expertise that makes complex climate information accessible and actionable, enabling you to plan for the future with clarity and confidence.
- Storytelling Support: Amplify the hopeful and impactful story of your heritage place. Through storytelling guidance and support, we’ll help you elevate your site’s narrative to a global stage, inspiring others with your work and the significance of your community’s heritage.
- Engage Meaningfully in Climate Policy: You’ll have the chance to share your insights in our global community of practice and connect to policy processes to mainstream heritage into climate action. Represent your heritage place and community as a voice for resilience, with opportunities to present at climate and heritage forums worldwide.
If you’re ready to become a key player in the global movement to protect your heritage place from climate change, this is your moment. Join us to lead with knowledge, inspire with story, and act with purpose—ensuring that the places and traditions we hold dear continue to thrive for generations to come.
Nominate a Place to Join the 2025 Preserving Legacies Cohort
Preserving Legacies is on a mission to empower every community to safeguard their places of cultural significance against the impacts of climate change. Guided by our principles of being community led, science based, values driven, and open access, we’ve created a three-staged program that transforms site custodians into climate custodians, education into impact.
Training
Site custodians participate in virtual education modules, in-person workshops, and networking opportunities to enhance their heritage and climate literacy, as well as their understanding of community-led adaptation approaches.
Assessment
Each site leads a values-based climate risk assessment based on findings from our work with scientific, local, and indigenous climate knowledge. This includes visualizing localized climate models, hosting community workshops to understand the values of the site most important to them, and mapping the risks of sites and values they hold against local climate data.
Action
With Preserving Legacies' support, sites develop and implement sustainable, culturally-appropriate climate adaptation actions for their communities.
Each year, Preserving Legacies opens applications to consider new cultural and natural community heritage sites for its cohort. Interested in self-nominating or nominating a site impacted by climate change? The 2025 Nomination period runs from November 1, 2024 to January 3, 2025. Check out criteria here.