Fieldwork has been the pivotal activity in all Connecting Practice phases, pursuing the aim of recognising commonalities, establishing linkages, and bridging the nature/culture divide. Fieldwork in all three phases centred on engaging at site level with communities, site managers, heritage practitioners and policy makers.

The project has tested various methods of carrying out field visits. Phase I visits were explorative in nature and used a variety of approaches and working methods at the sites. Phase II focused on creating a consistent, common structure to the fieldwork to identify strategies of generating immediate benefits to the sites. Phase III focuses included: the promotion of biocultural approaches for management and conservation of continually evolving cultural landscapes; the translatability of ‘resilience’ in management responses; and the use of broader partnerships to increase the multi-disciplinary character of the project.

Field visits are critical for understanding sites, generating connections and modifying practices, with each phase providing lessons and themes for subsequent phases. Outcomes from fieldwork create lessons for the development of improved frameworks and strategies applicable to a wider range of World Heritage properties and organisations.