HOPE & ACTION

Polar geography specialist Dr. Victoria Herrmann traces the course of her career to an early acquaintance with the hard facts of history. “I grew up hearing the stories of my grandparents who are Holocaust survivors and the devastation that came from a silent world as their communities faced an existential threat. From a young age, I knew that I wanted to do something to make sure that no one, no family, no community ever faced the same silence that my grandmother and grandfather and their families faced.”

Herrmann’s first step in keeping that commitment was to study international relations and human rights. “It was only when I got to university,” she shares, “that I realized climate change was the existential threat facing my generation. It was then that my being a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the realization of climate change as our generation’s biggest threat came together and inspired my lifelong determination to ensure every single community that calls this planet home has a vibrant and viable future and that their voices are heard in the halls of power in every country and in our global climate negotiations.”

Herrmann earned a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Cambridge and served there as president and managing director of The Arctic Institute from 2016 to 2021. While leading the National Geographic-funded America’s Eroding Edges project—which identified climate vulnerabilities in coastal communities and coastal ecosystems—she spoke before the Senate and House and at the 22nd United Nations Conference of the Parties. Named one of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy” by Apolitical (a roster that ranged from UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to broadcaster and natural historian, Sir David Attenborough), Herrmann is currently co-founder and executive director of Preserving Legacies, a National Geographic Society-supported initiative that works with communities worldwide to help adapt cultural heritage sites to the challenges of climate change.

“I remember that it was a bleary February day when I received an email from National Geographic saying that they had a new funding opportunity focused on protecting threatened cultural heritage sites from being lost,” shares Herrmann. “The email said to ‘think big’, that if we had access to the people and tools we needed, what was our biggest idea for the long-term protection of cultural heritage sites in collaboration with local Indigenous and descendant communities?” Herrmann immediately asked her friend, Andrew Potts, who is now the Director of Community at Preserving Legacies, to start brainstorming. He in turn reached out to Dr. Will Megarry, who became the team’s Principal Investigator, and Julianne Polanco, Senior Advisor, to put in their two cents.

“From the start, Preserving Legacies was built on co-creation, on all our work from the different dimensions of safeguarding the places we love most,” says Herrmann. “I drew directly from my past storytelling and research work at America’s Eroding Edges. Andrew brought in the climate policy dimension, Will brought in his experience leading vulnerability assessments for heritage sites in Europe and Africa, and Juli came in with decades of experience as the Historic Preservation Officer for California.”

Each year, Preserving Legacies selects 10 climate-impacted communities from a pool of global applicants and works with local leaders who serve as “custodians” in a three-year program built on climate science and risk assessment.

“In their first year,” explains Herrmann, “custodians are enrolled in a comprehensive training program designed to increase their climate literacy and equip them with the technical skills and tools necessary to assess climate risks, implement effective climate actions, and monitor the progress of resilience-building efforts. In their second year, they conduct a climate risk assessment for their community, leading focus groups to identify the economic, social, and environmental values of their heritage site.” This process leads to the creation of a comprehensive Risk Assessment and Action Plan, which is implemented in the third year.

Preserving Legacies worked with 22 communities in 2024 and expects to work with 10 more in 2025. “These populations care for heritage that is tangible—such as historic buildings, archaeological sites, and agricultural landscapes—and intangible,” relates Herrmann, “traditions, languages, and practices passed down through generations. This includes communities like the cross-border spiritual landscape of Koutammakou across Togo and Benin and remote Indigenous communities with rich intangible heritage, like the Guató Barra in Brazil’s Pantanal.” In Hreymiya, Jordan, Preserving Legacies Site Custodian Taher Falahat is leading a project to revitalize and update the ancient terraces that punctuate the landscape, an ancient water management solution. These efforts not only maintain the physical integrity and historical significance of these structures but address how best to respond to future flash flooding. This is critical not only for the structures but for the community of Wadi Musa as well, where more than 70 percent of the population relies on Petra for their economic wellbeing.

Between melting ice and rising oceans, record-breaking rainfalls and flooding, devastating forest fires, and crop-killing droughts, the planet is facing increasing challenges on all fronts. “I’m the first to admit, in the context of climate change and accelerated loss of biodiversity, hope is hard to come by these days,” says Herrmann. “Things may seem hopeless, but we are not helpless. Every individual has a skill, a voice, a career to wield as a tool to address climate change. We must prioritize uplifting every individual to see themselves as a climate champion and empower them through government policy, private sector opportunity, and public investment to be part of climate solutions. It is up to each of us—those involved in Preserving Legacies and those reading this article—to create the hopeful pathway for all to act, together.

For more information, visit heritageadapts.org.