The UKNC brings together UNESCO sites in the UK with a series of six place-based workshops

April 28th 2025

Over the last month teams from the UK National Commission for UNESCO’s Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage and Local to Global programmes have been touring the length and breadth of the United Kingdom bringing together representatives from UNESCO sites from across the four nations.

Together, they have co-delivered a series of workshops and exhibitions to support built, natural and cultural heritage sites to plan for, and adapt to, a changing climate - and take action for the environment.

Spring workshops

Following the successful introduction of 2024's workshop series, which focused on co-defining resilience thresholds through horizon scanning techniques, the UK National Commission for UNESCO secured support for an annual series of workshops for UNESCO sites in 2025 and 2026. This year the series was coordinated in collaboration between Local to Global and Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage, with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and HM Treasury Shared Outcomes Fund. All of the UK’s UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserves, Creative Cities, Global Geoparks and World Heritage Sites were invited to take part.

Representatives from 50 land-based UNESCO-designated sites across the UK attended the six workshops. The first half of the workshop asked participants to reflect on the threats and opportunities UNESCO sites face related to climate change, based on data profiling tools under development by the Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage project. The second half of the workshop used the participatory approach “Seeds of a Good Anthropocene” to collect examples of sustainable futures and develop inspirational visions. This included supporting nature recovery, environmental sustainability, and helping people connect with natural heritage and the UN’s SDGs.

We would like to offer special thanks to the six host sites for each of the six workshops:

Cymru (Wales): GeoMôn UNESCO Global Geopark
Midlands and Northern England: Saltaire UNESCO World Heritage Site
Northern Ireland: Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site
Scotland workshop: Perth UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art
Southeast England: Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church UNESCO World Heritage Site
Southwest England: City of Bath UNESCO World Heritage Site

Looking Forward to 2026

In summer 2026, the annual workshop series will continue, this time themed around the financial and non-financial value generated by multi-stakeholder partnerships. Later this year we will be inviting expressions of interest from the UK’s network of UNESCO-designated sites to host our next series of workshops.

Find out more on Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage

Find out more on Local to Global

Future___scapes Exhibition

Alongside each workshop was the touring Future___scapes exhibtion which engaged local communities in a wider discussion of how the impacts of climate change can affect different locations in different ways. The general public were invited to add their thoughts for how to help habitats and species thrive and involve people in bringing about positive behaviour change.

Find out more on Future___scapes