In April, FutureWater supported the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in delivering a programme to help support five place-based projects in Sudan, Egypt, India, Brazil and Uganda.

These projects aimed to use the historical and cultural stories of specific places to find out how traditional knowledge and practices could contribute to increasing resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Proposed Nature- and Culture-based solutions ranged from the re-planting of sacred trees in Alexandria to the restoration of defunct water harvesting systems in Jodhpur.

Our expert Jack Beard travelled to Rome to meet the teams for the trainings and learn more about the projects and their Climate Stories. In the first of two training sessions, climate risk assessment frameworks were explored – including how these can be used to understand current and future risks and vulnerabilities. In the second session, the teams discussed how Nature- and Culture-based adaptation measures can represent low cost and highly resilient solutions to mitigate risk alongside providing a wealth of co-benefits.

FutureWater wishes ICCROM and all of the teams the very best in further developing these projects toward implementation. It was hugely inspiring to work with you!