NEW YORK, NY.- World Monuments Fund (WMF) today announced five new sites as part of Cultivating Resilience, a global initiative helping historic gardens and managed landscapes adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. The selected projects span four continents and represent a range of typologies—from sacred groves to floating farms. The green spaces include the Chinampas of Xochimilco, Mexico; Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria; Waru Waru Agricultural Fields, Peru; the Tower of London Moat, United Kingdom; and Central Park, United States.


✨ Empower art news! Help ArtDaily continue its mission. Click to donate via PayPal or join our community on Patreon.


Announced in January 2024 as a key pillar of WMF’s Climate Heritage Initiative, Cultivating Resilience addresses the escalating environmental pressures threatening historic gardens and green heritage spaces around the world. From prolonged droughts and increased flooding to biodiversity and ecosystem loss, the effects of climate change pose serious risks to these living cultural landscapes—places that for centuries have held deep environmental, spiritual, and social significance.


🚀 See What Everyone's Reading! Explore Amazon's current bestsellers and find your next great read.


Cultivating Resilience not only supports site-based conservation and adaptation but also fosters a global exchange of knowledge—reviving traditional horticultural, water management, and construction techniques, and sharing insights with a wider community of heritage and environmental professionals. By foregrounding the role of green heritage in climate resilience, WMF ensures that these spaces continue to serve as sources of knowledge, identity, and well-being for future generations.

“Historic gardens and managed landscapes are essential infrastructure for climate action,” said Meredith Wiggins, Senior Director of Climate Adaptation at World Monuments Fund. “Urban parks can significantly cool neighborhoods during heatwaves. Mature trees absorb stormwater and carbon, and traditional land management practices support food security and biodiversity. These places offer practical solutions to today’s climate challenges while connecting communities to history, nature, and one another.”

“Climate change is one of the most urgent threats facing cultural heritage today,” said Bénédicte de Montlaur, President and CEO of World Monuments Fund. “By developing climate adaptation solutions at historic gardens, we are addressing this challenge head-on by investing in green heritage spaces that safeguard both ecological balance and cultural identity. This work reflects WMF’s commitment to a future where climate adaptation and cultural stewardship go hand in hand—where preserving the past helps communities prepare for what’s next. World Monuments Fund is grateful to the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation for its visionary support that has allowed us to create the Cultivating Resilience program.”

The five new sites selected for the Cultivating Resilience program were identified through an open call whose criteria included cultural significance, vulnerability to climate change, and potential to demonstrate replicable climate adaptation solutions.

Chinampas of Xochimilco, Mexico

One of the world’s oldest wetland agricultural systems, Mexico City's Chinampas have shaped the ecological and culinary traditions for generations. WMF is undertaking the rehabilitation of canal infrastructure essential for water health, documentation of plant species tied to traditional cultivation, and restoration of disused plots. These measures will help revitalize an ancestral farming system and support local ecological resilience and food heritage.

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria

This sacred Yoruba site, established more than four centuries ago, remains a vital place of worship and cultural continuity. WMF will carry out structural conservation of monumental shrines and sculptures while undertaking studies to understand how to help the native ecosystem adapt and thrive. This work will safeguard sacred infrastructure and allow local communities to continue cultural and spiritual practices in the face of mounting climate threats.

Waru Waru Agricultural Fields, Peru

Built high in the Lake Titicaca basin, the Waru Waru represent an ingenious and highly resilient Indigenous strategy for cultivating in a harsh environment. WMF is working with local agricultural communities to restore degraded Waru Waru fields while documenting and helping to promote their traditional agricultural practices. The revitalization of these fields will not only increase local productivity but also preserve a model of climate-adaptive farming.

Central Park, United States

Recognized as one of the most important works of 19th-century American art Central Park has long served as a vital urban greenspace and cultural landmark for New Yorkers. In partnership with the Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit organization and civic institution responsible for managing Central Park, WMF will conduct climate risk and biodiversity assessments and propose adaptation strategies that promote climate resilience. Building on the Conservancy’s more than four decades of stewardship, these interventions will strengthen the Park’s ecological functions while preserving its historic integrity.

Tower of London Moat, United Kingdom

The Tower of London’s moat has had a surprising number of uses in its almost 1,000-year history; including as vegetable garden during World War II. Now Historic Royal Palaces, with WMF support, is working to ensure that the moat can serve as a model for sustainable greenspace by revitalizing historic infrastructure to better manage water and introducing wetland landscapes to support urban biodiversity. The project will also install environmental monitoring systems and conduct biodiversity assessments to bolster the moat’s ecological resilience while deepening public appreciation of its historic and future environmental value.