UN-Backed Digital Platform Launches to Save Global Heritage from Climate Change

WASHINGTON, DC – June 04, 2026 – A landmark global campaign launched today, aiming to deploy a unique blend of technology, community action, and policy to shield the world's cultural and natural heritage from the escalating ravages of climate change. Titled Heritage Adapts!, the initiative is the first of its kind to unite the global heritage sector behind a single, urgent mission: empowering at least 3,000 heritage sites and cultural practices to implement locally led climate adaptation measures by 2030.

Spearheaded by Preserving Legacies, an initiative supported by the National Geographic Society, the campaign has already earned significant international endorsement. It is recognized under the U.N.'s Global Climate Action Agenda as one of just 120 promising climate delivery plans, a designation that signals a new, more integrated approach to protecting cultural assets in an era of environmental instability. The campaign leverages a sophisticated online platform to connect local stewards with the data, technical guidance, and global network needed to turn policy into practice.

"As the world hurtles toward 2 degrees Celsius of warming, we are in a race to help communities—and the culture and heritage that sustain them—adapt while there is still time," said Andrew Potts, Policy Director at Preserving Legacies. "The U.N.'s new Global Goal on adapting cultural heritage can be transformative, but only if it fuels real support for every site and cultural practice."

A Race Against Irreversible Tipping Points

The urgency behind the Heritage Adapts! launch is underscored by stark data. A recent UNESCO report revealed that climate-related hazards threatening its designated World Heritage sites have surged by 40% in the last decade alone. Even more alarmingly, the report projects that by 2050, more than one in four of these globally recognized sites could cross irreversible tipping points, facing permanent damage or loss from phenomena like rising sea levels, extreme weather, and wildfires.

However, these sobering statistics represent only the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of sites and practices that communities cherish—from local burial grounds and historic districts to intangible traditions and Indigenous knowledge systems—remain untracked by international frameworks. This critical data gap means their vulnerability to climate change is largely unmeasured and unaddressed, creating a blind spot in global conservation efforts. The initiative argues this gap is not just a reporting failure but a core part of the problem, leaving countless stewards without the recognition or resources to act.

Compounding the issue is a persistent shortfall in funding and policy. For years, heritage adaptation has been largely sidelined in climate finance discussions, leaving local managers and communities with limited access to the capital needed for resilience projects. Heritage Adapts! aims to directly confront this challenge by creating a scalable, accessible pathway for action.

A Digital Hub for Global Collaboration

At the heart of the campaign is its innovative online community of action platform, accessible at act.heritageadapts.org. Far from a simple information portal, the platform functions as a hybrid social network and learning management system designed to democratize climate adaptation. It offers a self-paced program that guides users through every stage of the process, from initial vulnerability assessment to the development and implementation of a full-fledged adaptation plan.

This technology-driven approach is designed to lower the barrier to entry, making sophisticated climate resilience strategies accessible to any heritage steward, regardless of their starting point or technical expertise. The platform aims to expand access to critical climate and heritage education, provide localized climate data that is often hard to obtain, and foster a global peer-to-peer support network. By connecting a site manager in Tunisia with an expert in Canada, or a community in Brazil with one in Mongolia, the initiative seeks to accelerate the sharing of knowledge and best practices.

"By providing heritage stewards with a platform to share knowledge, learn and support each other, Heritage Adapts! will help safeguard the irreplaceable heritage places and practices of communities in every corner of the globe," explained Ian Miller, Chief Science and Innovation Officer at the National Geographic Society. "By uniting science with local wisdom, the Heritage Adapts! initiative is ensuring that we will go far together, safeguarding our shared human history for generations to come."

From High-Level Policy to Grassroots Action

The initiative represents a new blueprint for translating high-level international policy into tangible, on-the-ground results. Its recognition as a "Plan to Accelerate Solutions" (PAS) under the UNFCCC framework comes on the heels of major policy breakthroughs. The Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), adopted at COP28, officially recognized cultural heritage as a critical component of climate resilience. This was further solidified at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, which approved specific indicators to track the protection of heritage sites.

Heritage Adapts! is designed to be the implementation engine for these policies. With a founding coalition of over 100 organizations, including strategic partners like the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and Europa Nostra, the campaign is building a multi-stakeholder ecosystem to drive change. It moves beyond rhetoric by providing a structured pathway for the thousands of local stewards who are the ultimate guardians of this shared legacy.

"This initiative is critical because culture and heritage connect communities to their identity, land, history, and future," noted Dan Ioschpe, the COP 30 Climate High-Level Champion. "As emphasized during COP30, climate action begins and ends with people, and culture is one of the most powerful tools for lasting change."

Empowering Local Stewards as Climate Leaders

The campaign's core philosophy is that heritage is not merely a passive victim of climate change but an active source of solutions. By focusing on "locally led" action, it taps into generations of traditional and Indigenous knowledge that holds time-tested strategies for resilience and sustainable living. Preserving Legacies has already trained custodians from over 20 countries, tackling diverse challenges at sites like the Kherlen River Basin in Mongolia, the historic Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua and Barbuda, and the lands of the Guató Barra do São Lourenço Indigenous community in Brazil.

This approach reframes heritage preservation as a proactive tool for building community resilience. When a community works to protect a historic waterfront, it also develops strategies for flood management that protect homes and businesses. When it safeguards traditional agricultural practices, it also enhances food security. By empowering local stewards to lead, the campaign ensures that adaptation strategies are culturally relevant, locally appropriate, and sustainable in the long term, making the protection of the past a vital investment in a more secure future.