Stories

When engagement sessions with community members around climate change stalled, Preserving Legacies custodians paid attention to local cultural traditions, got creative, and put a climate change spin on a local game to more equitably connect. 

Press release: Heritage Adapts! launches today as the first global campaign uniting the heritage sector behind a shared mission: at least 3,000 sites and practices taking locally led climate adaptation action by 2030.

A new open access platform for heritage sites and cultural practices to take a locally led adaptation action by 2030.

This film follows our custodians of Koutammakou, land of the Batammariba in Togo & Benin, where they are working with their community to protect traditional earthen homes, and all that they represent, from the growing impacts of climate change. By combining their ancestral building techniques with modern technology, they also offer sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.

We welcome the custodians of seven extraordinary heritage places and practices to the Preserving Legacies climate adaptation program, each bringing their distinct histories, perspectives, skills, and relationships to the shared challenge of climate change.

2026 is a busy year for the climate heritage community! Our team and partners are attending or keeping an eye on these global and regional events throughout the year.

Key takeaways from our exploration of an impressive literature review on future visioning, a process we share with our custodians to consider integrating into their climate adaptation work.

For the Rideau Canal, climate change not only impacts its tangible infrastructure of locks, dams, and fortifications but also poses risk to its natural values, including an increasingly at-risk turtle species.

A look back on 2025 and forward to 2026.

Brazil’s leverage of the Action Agenda helped propel initiatives like our Heritage Adapts! 3000 x 2030 campaign, demonstrating how heritage can drive measurable progress toward commitments in the Global Goal on Adaptation and beyond.

On Kerkennah Island, the sea shapes life, heritage, and tradition—but climate change is putting it all at risk. Residents joined a multi-day, community-led workshop with our climate custodians to weave together knowledge, memory, and action, charting a resilient path for their island’s future.

The 2026 cohort program application is now open! Apply by January 5 to be considered for this transformative three-year journey to preserve your community's heritage places and practices against the impacts of climate change.

The Ileret Footprint Project Site demonstrates how heritage custodians can take an active role in enhancing the resilience of communities most exposed to the impacts of climate change.

Shenkeng District recently completed their locally led climate risk assessment and adaptation planning workshop—a three-day convening of diverse stakeholders that marked the culmination of months of collaboration and set the foundation for safeguarding Shenkeng for generations to come.

Kherlen River Basin custodians Saku Saruu and Suvdaa Suvd are kicking off locally led climate risk and adaptation workshop season here at Preserving Legacies!

From the field to the rooms where it happens, a packed climate heritage calendar of events for the rest of 2025.

From global scientific reports to local adaptation plans, the work of our staff and custodians is gaining recognition around the world. 

Not many people can say that one of the Seven Wonders of the World is their office. But for Taher Falahat, our Petra Climate Custodian, this ancient sandstone city is more than a workplace, it’s home.

Meet geographer and Tijuana Estuary climate custodian, Empress Holliday. Learn how asking "Why here?" guides her work to preserve this delicate natural and cultural ecosystem.

The Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance's position paper on culture-related indicators and policy provisions of the Global Goal on Adaptation is now open for you to sign-on.

Climate custodians are forging stronger relationships with their communities through workshops and informal conversations, creating the foundation for fair and sustainable climate action.

From big city lawyer to local leader, Marlon was one of the first custodians to participate in the Preserving Legacies cohort program. Learn more about his journey to preserve his culture and the insights he learned along the way.

Climate resilience for heritage places can only be achieved when heritage custodians and communities leading adaptation efforts have not only meaningful access to relevant scientific climate data produced through Western science but also the capacity and authority to interpret, communicate, and act on that data.

Darius Saviour Ankamah's first-hand experience representing Preserving Legacies' HACA initiative at the 27th UNFCCC Adaptation Committee Meeting in Bonn, Germany May 7-9.

From Rome to Marseille to Budva, Preserving Legacies team members have been amplifying a shared message: heritage is not just what we protect — it is how we adapt.

We are excited and honored to welcome 12 extraordinary cultural and natural heritage places and practices to the Preserving Legacies climate adaptation program—each one bringing its own unique story, challenges, and potential to tackle the climate crisis head-on. From historic towns to stunning landscapes, this year’s cohort is a beautiful representation of the diversity that makes up our global heritage.

The application period for the 2025 Preserving Legacies Cohort Program is open! Apply today!

Preserving Legacies is a three-phase program on climate training, assessing risk, and acting to protect heritage places.

Across the globe, the omission of culture and heritage from climate adaptation policy and finance is a barrier to scaling up work to protect these community assets from climate-related risks – but the new Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) framework offers an opportunity to begin fixing this problem.

In June 2023, the Preserving Legacies team met in Wadi Musa to support the community vulnerability workshop of Petra. The Preserving Legacies Petra Vulnerability Workshop produced 10 important lessons to consider when assessing climate vulnerability with your own community.

To safeguard a cultural or natural heritage site from climate change impacts, we must first understand why places are special to the communities that care for them. Here are 10 lessons to consider when mapping values.

By committing to both climate action and heritage preservation, world leaders hold the potential to save humanity’s shared sense of continuity—culturally, and existentially.