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Koutammakou, Land of Batammariba
Places
Explore our cultural and natural heritage sites across the globe
Preserving Legacies is partnered with 10 cultural and natural heritage sites in 2023. These places of cultural significance, explored below, represent different heritage typologies, like archeological sites and living agricultural landscapes, and different climate threats, like sea level rise and extreme heat. While this diverse first cohort spans continents, cultures, and climate impacts, they all share a deep commitment to learn, connect, and build something new together.
Primary Sites
In the first year of Preserving Legacies, our two primary sites will go through a more robust program to link climate science and site conservation by enabling access to locally downscaled climate change models and organize a community-led workshop of the sites’ climate vulnerability as well as impacts on local communities.
Cadet Sites
In the first year of Preserving Legacies, eight cadet sites have been chosen to fully engage in climate heritage training and a peer-to-peer learning experience. Site custodians from these sites will shadow the full process at Petra and the Rice Terraces, including attending their workshops, to better prepare for their own assessments in 2024.
Togo
Koutammakou, Land of Batammariba
Koutammakou is a cultural landscape of 50,000 hectares on the border between Benin and Togo. It is made up of scattered turreted houses called sikien, cultivable spaces, sacred groves, ponds and rocks, century-old trees, waterways and landscaped hills. The turreted houses are built using material from the local environment and act as houses, defensive structures and religious centres for the Batammariba who continue to inhabit the site. As a living landscape, the pursuit of harmony between people and nature underpins the Batammariba world view and this is represented by rich intangible customs and traditions which continue to be practised at the site. The site, its inhabitants and its rich culture are being impacted by flooding, severe storms, heat waves, extreme rainfall and drought.