Saving the Future by Looking Back at the Past

A new project by National Geographic Society and Manulife is working with community champions to protect cultural heritage sites from climate change.

- TOH EE MING

As National Geographic Explorer Victoria Herrmann travelled across the United States and its territories to interview 350 local leaders on the impact of climate change for her America's Eroding Edges project, one thing stood out.

It didn't take long for conversations to move from damaged infrastructure to cultural heritage and identity things like losing tomato croplands passed down through the generations and losing public space used for traditional dance due to coastal erosion.

"Being a climate change researcher, a climate advocate and activist, I went to climate change meetings and negotiations, but I knew nothing about historic preservation. That was the first time I realised that climate change at its core is about losing what mattered most to us, about losing our identity," said Herrmann, an Assistant Research Professor at Georgetown University and a Fellow at The Arctic Institute, which she previously led as Managing Director.

Climate change and preserving cultural heritage are very much "key parts of the same conversation" to create solutions for the future, whether it is adapting these sites, learning from the past, or building sustainable solutions for mitigation, she explained.

This commitment to safeguarding cultural heritage is also a key guiding principle for Preserving Legacies: A Future for Our Past, a new initiative launched by the National Geographic Society in partnership with international financial services provider Manulife.