Sites & places
Care for places of cultural significance.
Focus — Culture, Arts & Language — Cultural landscapes and waterways
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND WATERWAYS
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve the care of culturally significant places for the communities connected to the place.
Why this area
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND WATERWAYS
IN CONTEXT.
Some rivers, forests, and sites are cultural infrastructure. Ideas qualify when both the meaning and the physical condition of the place are addressed.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Waterways
Rivers, lakes, and coasts with cultural standing.
Access
Community rights to reach and use these places.
Condition
Physical restoration alongside cultural care.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND WATERWAYS
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where the care of culturally significant places fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — condition of the place, access secured, or practices resumed.
- Explains what the communities connected to the place do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of the care of culturally significant places in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier heritage and conservation designations did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the communities connected to the place, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — sites, hectares, or river kilometres.
- A stated measure of success — condition of the place, access secured, or practices resumed.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves cultural continuity and environmental condition for the communities connected to the place.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named community trust, custodians, or heritage authority able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of the care of culturally significant places in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the communities connected to the place or the community trust, custodians, or heritage authority.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about cultural landscapes and waterways with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND WATERWAYS IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about the care of culturally significant places that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.