Preserving Heritage Starts with Community: How Climate Custodians Are Leading Local Action Worldwide

At the heart of our heritage adaptation work is a simple belief: meaningful, lasting climate action must begin with community. Around the world, heritage leaders, our Climate Custodians, are putting this into practice. Through workshops, focus groups, listening sessions, and informal conversations, they’re building relationships and weaving plural knowledge systems together to co-create a foundation for equitable and sustainable climate action.  

From Bangladesh to Tunisia, Brazil to Taiwan, they’re demonstrating that heritage preservation isn’t just about what we protect—it’s about how we do it. Here’s a closer look at how this work is taking shape around the world.

Reclaiming Climate Dialogue at the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat, Bangladesh

The Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat custodians Khandoker Mahfuz ud Darain and Lovely Yasmin hosted their long-anticipated Climate Risk Assessment Seminar and Workshop this May, after months of delays due to political unrest. 

They opened with a children’s painting competition, then over three days convened local residents, policy makers, journalists, researchers, and heritage professionals to collaboratively explore risk to heritage values, including climate hazards, and adaptation strategies. 

High-profile guests, including Khulna Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md. Zulfikar Ali Haidar, praised the initiative. As reported by DailyNewNation, he emphasized the importance of combining research with local knowledge to protect national treasures.

Darain underscored the urgency for this work: “These sites are not only architectural masterpieces but also custodians of Bangladesh’s collective memory and identity. Our goal is to harness local insights alongside scientific understanding to ensure these invaluable legacies are protected for future generations.”

The rich data, stories, and insights from this workshop will inform a values-based climate risk assessment and adaptation strategy, to be published in the coming year.

Building Climate Heritage Dialogue in Kerkennah Island, Tunisia

On Tunisia’s Kerkennah Island, custodians Aissa Arous and Sana Taktak have been connecting with youth, women, fishermen, NGOs, and local authorities through a series of interviews and meetings.

For many, the sessions sparked rediscovery of their island, their heritage, and why preservation matters. But they also revealed a gap in awareness about climate change and its impacts.

“The effects of climate change are accelerating,” Aissa explained, “not only due to natural factors, but also because of the lack of awareness among the population. In trying to adapt economically, people often turn to short-term solutions that end up worsening the situation.”

Young people expressed strong ties to local values and traditions, particularly fishing, but often lacked knowledge of tangible heritage sites like Borj El Hsar and their connection to climate change. “Many youth have left school,” Sana shared. “They want to fish. They speak about artisanal practices, charfiya fishing, net fishing, because that’s what they know and value. But the education system doesn’t reflect their lives. So the question becomes: how can we reimagine a fishing school in Kerkennah that works alongside the traditional system?”

Sana added, “Women, fishers, and farmers hold deep knowledge about responding to environmental change, but this wisdom often isn’t passed on. Fishing remains the thread that ties everything together—a way of life, a source of identity, and a foundation for resilience.”

These conversations are only the beginning and will inspire future sessions, all leading to the co-creation of a values-based risk assessment, which will inform locally-led adaptation action in Kerkennah next year. 

Cross-Cultural Inspiration in Brazil and Taiwan

At Preserving Legacies, we not only center a community-led adaptation approach; we foster community among custodians themselves. By creating opportunities for online and offline connection, custodians learn from and support one another across geographies. Creating this network is critical for scaling heritage adaptation across thousands of sites worldwide.

In Brazil, custodians Celso Almeida and Bruno Andrade brought this spirit of exchange into their recent community sessions for their heritage place, the Candomblé Terreiros of Bahia. They convened diverse groups of participants from different Terreiros, generations, and socio-economic backgrounds for two sessions—one focused around heritage values and attributes, the other on current risks and vulnerabilities. To help bring the work to life and deepen the dialogue, they shared a video message and case study from our custodian Ibrahim Tchan of Koutammakou, Land of Batammariba in Togo and Benin. Celso and Bruno had visited this site as part of the cohort program and felt a deep resonance with their values and traditions, connecting it to their own Afro-Brazilian heritage with Bahia having been a center for the slave trade in Brazil. 

In Shenkeng District, Taiwan, custodian Patrick Chao-Shiang Li returned home from last year’s workshop in Cartagena, Colombia energized by what he had learned, particularly about mangroves as both vital ecosystems and cultural symbols. Inspired, Patrick and a team of other custodians, Jessica Liu and Alex Yen, launched eight community sessions to explore similar connections between heritage and resilience at home.

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Cultural Resilience at the Tijuana Estuary, USA-Mexico

To close out our community engagement efforts so far this year, custodians Empress Holliday and Dr. Kristen Goodrich recently completed the final workshop in a five-part series at the Tijuana Estuary. They began by co-facilitating a cultural heritage literacy workshop designed to build trust, deepen understanding, and elevate voices of the Estuary’s cross-border community. This initial step laid the groundwork for a collaborative effort with the California State Office of Historic Preservation and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to apply the Cultural Heritage Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CH CVA) framework to the site. Together, they’re working towards shaping a values-based adaptation plan tailored to this ecologically and culturally complex landscape.

Why Centering Community Voices Matters

Across every site, one thing is clear—and Aissa from Tunisia said it best: “The reality on the ground is something you learn through those who live it.”

Our custodians remind us that community engagement is not a box to check. It’s a dynamic process that requires a commitment to care, respect, and collaborate.  

The future is not foretold. It’s one we create together.

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