Human Nature

From city parks to rural farmland, outdoor spaces define communities. They’re places to work, to unwind, to connect with neighbors. And they’re in trouble. Issues such as heat, drought, and flooding threaten many of these spaces. That’s why World Monuments Fund (WMF) is trying to protect them.

WMF is a group dedicated to cultural heritage sites. These are important sites that reflect the historic culture of a place. The group recently started a program called Cultivating Resilience × resilience the ability to withstand difficulties or changing circumstances (noun) . It focuses on preserving what WMF calls “green heritage spaces.” These outdoor spaces include farmland, parks, and sacred sites. They’re located all over the world.

HISTORY IN BLOOM Visitors enjoy a vibrant wildflower display at the Tower of London moat, in London, England.

“Climate change is one of the most urgent threats facing cultural heritage today,” the group says on its website. “As climate-related threats intensify, green heritage spaces face mounting pressures.”

Green Spaces

In 2024, WMF began the Cultivating Resilience program with an open call for applications. Meredith Wiggins is the group’s senior director of climate adaptation. She told TIME for Kids that WMF received 55 applications from 25 countries. Seven sites were chosen to start with. Some are shown in the photographs on these pages. WMF is helping these outdoor spaces adapt to a changing world. That way, the sites can continue to “work for people and the planet,” she says.

Some of the sites involve “agricultural systems that are thousands of years old,” Wiggins says. In Peru, WMF is working with Indigenous × Indigenous of or relating to the original inhabitants of a place (noun) leaders to preserve ancestral agricultural fields. The fields are called waru warus.

PROUD TRADITION Peruvian farmers harvest crops in a waru waru field. This farming method dates back to 1000 B.C.

In Mexico City, Mexico, WMF is focusing on the chinampas of the Xochimilco district. Chinampas are islands in Mexico City’s wetlands. They were created more than a thousand years ago. They’re used for farming. But they also offer refuge for wildlife. And they help keep Mexico City’s water clean. WMF is working to protect the chinampas from threats such as drought and heat.

FLOATING FARMS Diverse crops are grown on these islands, called chinampas, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Thriving Communities

The Cultivating Resilience program covers nonagricultural sites, too. Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a lush forest ecosystem in Nigeria. For Yoruba people in West Africa, it’s an important place of worship. And in New York City, WMF is working with the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit group, to preserve Manhattan’s largest park.

SACRED PLACE Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a cultural site in Nigeria.

Grey Elam is a director at the Central Park Conservancy. Her team is collaborating with WMF to conduct a climate-risk assessment. The team will look at all aspects of the park. These include everything from its wildlife to “which tree species will be most adaptable and best suited for our future climate,” she told TIME for Kids.

NEW YORK’S BACKYARD City-dwellers lounge in Sheep Meadow, in New York City’s Central Park.

“Our mission is to make sure that the park remains safe, clean, and beautiful today and for generations to come,” Elam says. “This program has really given us the opportunity to learn more so that we can better prepare ourselves, our staff, and the park for climate challenges.”

Heritage at Home

Communities everywhere can celebrate their green spaces. These can be parks that fill up with friends having fun on weekends. They can be gardens where neighbors tend flowers and share stories. All such places need ongoing support. To provide it, community members can organize cleanup events, for example, or plant trees. “If you begin to care for a green space, then it will become part of your heritage,” says WMF’s Meredith Wiggins.