For the first time in the 30+ year history of the UNFCCC, heritage has a clear and growing foothold in global climate policy. At COP30 in Belém, that momentum was propelled by Brazil’s leadership, a strengthened Action Agenda, and advances within the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)—all supported by behind-the-scenes work from our policy advocacy group, Heritage Adapts to Climate Alliance (HACA), and our Heritage Adapts! 3000 x 2030 Coalition of global climate and culture organizations. Together, these developments mark a turning point for communities working to safeguard their heritage and build resilience in the face of climate change.

Preserving Legacies kicks off COP30 with award for locally led heritage adaptation

COP30 opened on a high note for heritage: on the very first day, Preserving Legacies was honored by the Global Center on Adaptation as their Local Adaptation Champion in the Citizen Science category. The award was presented by Brazil’s First Lady, Janja Lula da Silva, and H.R.H. Princess Dana Firas of Jordan to our Brazilian custodian, Celso Almeida.

The moment was especially meaningful as days earlier, Celso and fellow custodian, Bruno Andrade, facilitated a week-long climate risk assessment with the Candomblé Terreiros of Bahia, spiritual spaces central to Afro-Brazilian identity, worship, and community. Accepted on behalf of Preserving Legacies custodians worldwide, the award underscored the power of community knowledge and lived experience when paired with downscaled scientific data to assess climate risk and develop adaptation plans.

COP30's leverage of the Action Agenda helped to elevate heritage

This momentum for heritage continued through the rest of COP30, where locally led adaptation, Indigenous Knowledge, cultural heritage, and culture more broadly were elevated as essential elements to equitable and effective climate action. This was fueled, in part, by the Brazil COP Presidency's leadership in producing and participating in culture-based events as well as its innovative use of the Action Agenda, which is the mechanism designed to mobilize climate action with civil society, the private sector, and individual governments.

In collaboration with the Climate High Level Champions and UNFCCC Secretariat, they used findings from the first Global Stocktake (GST-1) to unify the Action Agenda around six thematic axes, each with a dedicated room inside the Blue Zone. Heritage was placed within the “Fostering Human and Social Development” axis, specifically in Activation Group 19 (AG19): Culture, Cultural Heritage Protection and Climate Action, one of thirty Activation Groups mapped to a Key Objective. This gave heritage a clear institutional home within the COP30 Action Agenda.

Plans to Accelerate Solutions are a new pathway to drive locally led heritage adaptation

Another exciting development for heritage was the introduction of “Plans to Accelerate Solutions” (PAS)—a new Action Agenda pathway to address gaps and drive measurable progress. Roughly 100 PAS initiatives were selected, and we are proud that our Heritage Adapts! 3000 x 2030 Campaign and Community of Action is among them.

Developed by a global coalition, Heritage Adapts! aims to see at least 3,000 heritage sites and cultural practices implementing adaptive strategies by 2030. To realize this vision, the coalition will also launch a first-of-its-kind online “community of action.” Part learning platform, part social network, the community builds on the work of coalition partners to democratize climate and heritage adaptation education, expand access to climate data, and foster a global peer-to-peer network. H.R.H. Princess Dana Firas announced the campaign's early-2026 launch at the “Cultural Power for Climate Action” event on November 13, and the initiative is highlighted in the final Outcomes Report for the Global Action Agenda at COP30.

At a closing event for the Action Agenda on November 19, it was clear that support for the Action Agenda's whole-of-society approach is strong but that alignment with policy is paramount. The Heritage Adapts! 3000 x 2030 campaign is intentionally aligned with the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)'s ambition to protect cultural heritage, offering a concrete, measurable example of how the Action Agenda and policy can reinforce one another.

Throughout COP30, representatives from the Heritage Adapts! Coalition and advocates from HACA—including H.R.H. Princess Dana Firas of Jordan (UNESCO, ICOMOS, Petra National Trust), Ave Paulus (ICOMOS), Aline Carvalho (ICOMOS Brazil), Meredith Wiggins (World Monuments Fund), Mokolade Johnson, Simon Musasizi, and Moussa Elimane Sall (Climate Heritage Network), Darius Saviour Ankamah (Alliance for Youth in Climate Change Action), Lori Ferriss and Billie Faircloth (Built Buildings Lab), Susan Kamenar (Preserving Legacies), and Preserving Legacies custodians Celso Almeida, Bruno Andrade, Luana Campos, and Ina-Maria Shikango—helped to further elevate heritage throughout the Blue and Green Zones. By sharing examples from their work, they underscored a simple truth: communities with a strong connection to heritage are more resilient, and safeguarding their heritage sites and cultural practices is essential to bolstering that resilience.

Their message underscored a simple truth: Communities with a strong connection to their heritage are more resilient, and safeguarding their heritage sites and cultural practices is essential to bolstering that resilience.

Heritage makes headway in final Global Goal on Adaptation outcomes

Alongside Action Agenda gains, HACA continued its work with negotiators and Party representatives to maintain momentum for heritage within GGA policy. After COP28’s milestone decision to include “protecting cultural heritage” as one of seven thematic targets (Target 9(g)), the core task at COP30 was securing robust, inclusive indicators to measure progress.

Negotiations stretched to the final moments. Of the original 100 proposed indicators across all GGA targets, only 59 were adopted—and five focus specifically on cultural heritage:

• (a) Percentage of at-risk cultural and natural heritage sites and elements with adaptation measures implemented to enhance resilience to climate-related hazards under different warming scenarios, as appropriate for regions and contexts, guided by traditional, local or Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and practices, disaggregated, as appropriate, by tangible and intangible cultural elements;
• (b) Proportion of cultural heritage protected from climate impacts through digitization measures for preservation and recovery and by storing movable heritage in climate-resilient facilities;
• (c) Percentage of cultural heritage and sites with adaptation measures and emergency preparedness plans in place for climate change related hazards under different warming scenarios, as appropriate for regions and contexts;
• (d) Level of establishment of institutional arrangements for the provision of regular training on climate change adaptation that incorporates guidance from traditional, local and Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge where applicable;
• (e) Percentage of climate adaptation measures focused on cultural heritage that maintain sustained engagement with Indigenous Peoples and/or local communities.

While not all of HACA’s recommendations were adopted, the final indicators reflect several of its core priorities:

• Attention to tangible and intangible heritage
• Inclusion of natural and cultural heritage sites
• Provision for movable heritage
• Measuring “sustained engagement with Indigenous Peoples and/or local communities” 
• Focus on guiding by “traditional, local or Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and practices.”

Additional language in the GGA text encouraging the disaggregation of reporting has the potential to be as important for cultural heritage as the indicators themselves, by revealing disparities and gaps in broader GGA implementation specific to themes like cultural heritage.

The decision further reinforces that nations must integrate the cultural heritage target into their adaptation planning, including National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This is a much-needed signal to adaptation planners that heritage is not ancillary to resilience; it is foundational.

Finally, the COP30 outcome invites major climate finance institutions including the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, and Adaptation Fund, to support developing countries in implementing the heritage target. This long-awaited path to finance for the heritage sector now has an entry point.

Amongst these wins, critical issues still remain that we'd like to see addressed in the future. Those include the failure to address ethical and equitable engagement with Indigenous Peoples and local communities whose knowledge is to be used; impractical over-use of percentage-based indicators; unanswered questions on how culture will be factored into other thematics; and inattention to maladaptation. Read the full statement from HACA and Heritage Adapts! 3000 x 2030 here.

Overall, COP30 marked a decisive step forward for heritage in global climate action. With new policy anchors, stronger action pathways, and expanded recognition of local and Indigenous expertise, heritage is no longer on the margins — it is recognized as a core component of resilience. The work ahead is significant, but the foundations are in place. HACA, the Heritage Adapts! Coalition, and custodians worldwide stand ready to continue driving this momentum.