Preserving Legacies
Protecting our World Heritage Site and local communities from the impacts of climate change is one of the priorities for The Great Spa Towns of Europe Association.
In 2025, we started working with Preserving Legacies, a global organisation dedicated to advancing climate adaptation solutions in heritage sites.
Led by National Geographic Explorer Victoria Herrmann, this project is funded by the National Geographic Society. The programme focuses on empowering local communities and leaders to develop skills, tools and solutions and protect their sites from climate change.
Four participants from The Great Spa Towns of Europe enrolled with Preserving Legacies’ Climate Custodian Programme (Chiara Ronchini, Secretary General for The Great Spa Towns of Europe; Anne Pirard, Site Manager for Spa, Belgium; Anke Matthys, Site Manager for Vichy, France and Tony Crouch, Site Manager for the City of Bath, UK).
The three-year course focuses on building resilience against climate change.
Our four participants have been working closely with experts to expand their skills and scientific knowledge. They have covered everything from identifying climate hazards to collaborating with local communities.
Continuous Work: Increasing Progress
The work to fight climate change is a continuous one. Our custodians committed to developing their understanding through active learning and workshops. Their experience will be put into practise in our Great Spa Towns and will be used to support other World Heritage Sites.
In 2025, our four custodians attended workshops to learn directly from others. Now, our own workshops have included experts, elected officials and community groups, ensuring local voices are part of the progress.
Amplifying Across Europe
For Preserving Legacies, working with The Great Spa Towns of Europe was a significant step forward.
As a serial, transnational World Heritage Site, the network we have across Europe allows us to amplify the positive learnings across the continent and our partners around the world.
This helps Preserving Legacies to scale its reach to address the accelerating threats climate change poses to global heritage.
“The Preserving Legacies programme represents a pivotal opportunity for The Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site to address our most pressing shared challenge – climate change.
As a transnational World Heritage property spanning eleven historic spa towns across seven countries, we’re uniquely positioned to implement climate adaptation strategies at scale.
Preserving Legacies will enable us to embed climate resilience directly into our 2027 Property Management Plan, ensuring that our extraordinary cultural landscapes and thermal water sources are protected for future generations.”
~ Chiara Ronchini, Secretary General of The Great Spa Towns of Europe.
Inspiring and Enriching
“The workshop was very interesting and well organised, with a wine-growing community that is highly engaged with climate issues.
The Preserving Legacies team was very friendly and inspiring, as were the custodians from all over the world.
Sharing the vulnerabilities of our territories (despite their great diversity) and the solutions that each of us is trying to implement, and learning how to mobilise scientific knowledge together, made this week very enriching.
It helped me to better envisage the next steps for mobilising my local community, which was the intended goal!”
~ Anke Matthys, Site Manager for Vichy, France
“The City of Spa is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience across its territory by 2030. Protecting our natural and built heritage is essential for ensuring our community’s sustainability and quality of life in the face of climate challenges. This programme will advance our strategic thinking and enable implementation of locally-adapted solutions.”
~ Anne Pirard, Site Manager for the City of Spa, Belgium
Meet the Participants from The Great Spa Towns of Europe
