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Levuka
Places
Explore our cultural and natural heritage sites across the globe
Preserving Legacies is partnered with 10 cultural and natural heritage sites in 2023. These places of cultural significance, explored below, represent different heritage typologies, like archeological sites and living agricultural landscapes, and different climate threats, like sea level rise and extreme heat. While this diverse first cohort spans continents, cultures, and climate impacts, they all share a deep commitment to learn, connect, and build something new together.
Primary Sites
In the first year of Preserving Legacies, our two primary sites will go through a more robust program to link climate science and site conservation by enabling access to locally downscaled climate change models and organize a community-led workshop of the sites’ climate vulnerability as well as impacts on local communities.
Cadet Sites
In the first year of Preserving Legacies, eight cadet sites have been chosen to fully engage in climate heritage training and a peer-to-peer learning experience. Site custodians from these sites will shadow the full process at Petra and the Rice Terraces, including attending their workshops, to better prepare for their own assessments in 2024.
Fiji
Levuka
Levuka was the first colonial capital of Fiji and the seat of British rule on the islands from the late 19th century. From 1820 onwards, the port became an important and vibrant commercial centre complete with warehouses, stores, religious buildings and schools. The design of the town was strongly influenced by indigenous traditions which were integrated into colonial designs and standards. The site represents a unique and globally important point of interchange between cultures and remains a highly authentic and largely unchanged example of a colonial port town still inhabited by the local community. As an island nation, Fiji is threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion.