World Heritage Sites: The "In Danger" List

The ranking no tourist attraction wants

Deanna MacDonald
Special to The Globe and Mail
July 12, 2008

When the Joggins Fossil Cliffs were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site this week, geologists were thrilled. Not only will the designation boost the landmark's international profile, it's should also spike visits to the scientific marvel in the Bay of Fundy.

But here's the rub: More interest can also mean more danger for heritage sites. Take the Galapagos Islands, one of the first sites to be put on the World Heritage List. From 1990 to 2006, tourism more than tripled - along with visits from invasive species that are playing havoc with the area's fragile ecosystem.

In cities, meanwhile, locals from Luang Prabang to Prague complain that an influx of heritage visitors can turn complex urban landscapes into vapid tourist theme parks. As Herve Barré, a specialist with UNESCO's Sustainable Tourism Program, has pointed out: "Tourism is a paradox; it is at once a destroyer and a saviour of heritage."

And tourism isn't the only peril for heritage sites. While 11 new sites were recently added to the World Heritage List - updated in Quebec this week - 30 others are currently on an endangered list. Among the threats: war, natural disasters and even simple development.

CONFLICT
War has destroyed heritage sites throughout history, from the sack of ancient Rome by the Barbarians to the aerial bombings in Europe during the Second World War.

The most dramatic case in recent memory was the Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas of the Bamiyan Valley - Afghan treasures dating from the 1st to the 13th century - in 2001. Today, the remains are on UNESCO's "in danger" list.
So are two sites in Iraq. The Samarra Archeological City, for instance, the capital of the Abbasid Empire, is now being used by multinational forces for military operations and has been bombed repeatedly.

Even when bombs aren't aimed directly at heritage sites, though, international conflicts can put them at risk. Tensions between Serbia and newly independent Kosovo have meant that the medieval monuments of Kosovo, including rare 13th-century church frescos, are suffering from neglect. Fighting in Virunga National Park, a listed reserve for about 700 gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has forced park officials to flee.

DEVELOPMENT
It may ease traffic congestion, but if Dresden builds a new bridge over Elbe Valley, it could lose it's heritage status. UNESCO argues that the 635-metre bridge will have a "serious impact on the integrity" of the cultural landscape - often called the Florence of Germany for its baroque skyline - and is urging the city to build a tunnel instead.

In other cities, development hasn't put heritage status at risk so much as sites themselves. For example, Abu Mena, an important Christian sanctuary in Egypt, was put on UNESCO's danger list in 2001 after urban growth caused the destruction of a number of ancient cisterns. It led to rising water levels, unstable soil - and the sinking of historic structures.

HERITAGE STATUS
In some cases, simply the desire to get heritage designation can put proposed sites in danger. In China, residents near the sacred mountain of Watai, the site of an ancient Buddhist temple, complain that their homes and businesses are being destroyed to make the site more attractive to UNESCO officials and tourists.

NATURAL DISASTERS
For the most part, UNESCO's danger list is made up of sites threatened by man-made problems. But sometimes a natural disaster does bump a heritage site onto the roster. The ancient walled city of Baku in Azerbaijan, for instance, has been on the list since a devastating 2003 earthquake.

So what can be done to protect sites from such powerful forces?

UNESCO has established a sustainable tourism program to improve both tourist management and conservation. Still, the annual budget for World Heritage sites is only $20-million (U.S.) - not a lot of money to maintain 851 sites worldwide.
Perhaps technology is the answer. A Web project called the World Heritage Tour (http://www.world-heritage-tour.org) is building a photographic database of all heritage sites. Creator Tito Dupret's goal is to create a legacy for "future generations" of sites that are disappearing because of everything from war to mass tourism.

The only downside: Virtual views of endangered sites may inspire even conservation-minded travellers to see heritage sites offline while they still can.

SIDEBAR: How a site gets on the 'in danger' list:
The World Heritage Committee can put sites on the in-danger list when the qualities that made properties designated heritage sites are threatened. Threats to sites can be drawn to the attention of the governing committee by states, private individuals and non-governmental organizations. If an investigation determines the threats to be real, the World Heritage Fund may allocate money for site assistance. It also alerts the international community that aid is needed. There are currently 30 sites on the in-danger list. For more information, visit whc.unesco.org.


2. LONG VERSION OF SAME ARTICLE:

PERILOUS TRAVEL: World Heritage Sites in Danger

“Go now, before it’s too late.” This is a common piece of advice among travellers: go before the bus tours arrive, the ice caps melt, war begins, and so on. But go before they build a bridge? That’s a new one.

But if you, like many other travellers, have ever made a special trip to see one of UNESCO’s 851 World Heritage sites, you may just want to visit the Dresden Elbe Valley before the construction of a 635-meter bridge which proponents say will ease traffic congestion but that UNESCO says will have a “serious impact on the integrity” of the cultural landscape. So much so that they have placed the Dresden Elbe Valley, an 18km stretch of historic riverside listed as a “cultural landscape” since 2004, on their “in danger” list and informed German officials that the Valley could lose its World Heritage status if it goes ahead with the project. UNESCO has proposed an alternative – a tunnel – but no decision has yet been taken. The case will be resolved one way or the other in July in Quebec City at the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee’s annual meeting where a vote will be taken whether to remove the Dresden Elbe Valley from the list. No small decision as this would be only the second site ever removed (the first being a nature protection area in Oman which lost its prized status in 2007 after plans were begun to convert it to an oil field.)

But some insensitive development in Dresden is but one recent, high profile case of a World Heritage site at risk. UNESCO’s World Heritage list was begun in 1972 with the aim of identifying and protecting the world’s cultural and natural heritage “considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” But although World Heritage designation does offer some protection, sites still find themselves at risk from man-made and natural causes. UNESCO presently has a list of 30 sites “in danger” for reasons as varied as natural disaster, development, tourism and, most dramatically, war.

According to Christian Manshart, a UNESCO specialist working with sites in conflict zones, “war and armed conflict are among the greatest dangers for heritage sites.” One of the most dramatic cases in recent memory is the Buddhas of the Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan that were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. The site was added to the World Heritage list in 2003 as the “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley,” in an attempt to preserve the remains of the 1st to 13th century site. Today, there are two sites in Iraq on the “in danger” list, including the Samarra Archaeological City, antique capital of the Abbasid Empire dating to the 9th century, which is presently used by multi-national forces for military operations and has been bombed repeatedly.

It is not only bombs that can damage monuments. Tensions between Serbia and newly independent Kosovo have meant that the medieval monuments of Kosovo, including rare 13th-14th century church frescos, are in danger from a lack of conservation and management. And it is not only objects in danger. Numerous gorillas have been killed in the Virunga National Park, a listed reserve for some 700 gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, since renewed fighting in the region in the 1990s forced park officials to flee. Poaching and illegal trade is also a big problem for nature reserves such as Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park, home to numerous species, including lions, chimpanzees and elephants, which was added to the “in danger” list in 2007.

Not all risks are quite so dramatic, though they are no less damaging for a site: Abu Mena, an important Early Christian sanctuary in Alexandria, Egypt, is in danger of collapse because of recent urban development which destroyed numerous ancient cisterns, causing water levels to rise, the soil to become unstable and historic buildings to sink.

Natural disasters of course add to the list - the ancient walled city of Baku, Azerbaijan has been on the list since a devastating 2003 earthquake – but for the most part, the “in-danger” list involves man-made problems and one of the most pressing in recent years being the very thing that was hoped to help save heritage sites: tourism.

Sites added to the list quickly find themselves mentioned in guidebooks and travel articles and according to Herve Barré, a specialist with UNESCO’s Sustainable Tourism Programme, “on average a newly designated site will receive about a 30% increase in visitors.”

This increase can be a mixed blessing: mass tourism can been economically positive, but can cause endless problems, as anyone who has ever visited Ankor Wat or the Grand Canyon in high tourist season can attest to. “Tourism is a paradox; it is at once a destroyer and saviour of heritage,” said Mr. Barré at a UNESCO conference last November. “It can be both the worst and best thing for a heritage site.… The question is how many tourists can a site handle?”

The Galápagos Islands, among the first sites to be put on the World Heritage list in 1972, is presently on the “in danger” list because of growing tourism: the number of visitors to the Galápagos rose from 40,000 in 1990 to 145,000 in 2006 which has lead to immigration to the islands and introduced new, invasive species that are playing havoc with the islands’ fragile ecosystem.

Luang Prabang, not long ago a sleepy town of dirt roads and ancient Buddhist temples in Central Laos, was added to the World Heritage List in 1995 and has had a growing tourist presence since. But thought it is not yet on the “in danger” list, locals are now voicing fears that busloads of tourists are changing the character of the town from a living city to a tourist destination. Similar worries can be found in other popular historic urban centres like Prague and Cusco.

The desire to get on the list can also lead to problems: In China, residents near the sacred Buddhist mountain of Watai, which China would like see added to the World Heritage Site List, are complaining that their homes and businesses are being destroyed to make the site more attractive to potential tourists.

Ironically, the heritage sites that could most use tourism are often the places that don’t see this 30% increase in visitors. “In Africa, UNESCO designation does boosts tourism, but conflict or political unrest prevent many people from visiting,” said Victoire Adégbidi from the School of African Heritage in Bénin. “African heritage sites make up only 9% of the World Heritage list, but they comprise almost 50% of the list in danger.”

So with all these sites and more in danger, what can be done?

“Education,” said Ms. Adégbidi, “and get locals involved in preserving their own heritage.”

She is not alone in the belief that education is a key point in better protecting heritage. “Education is such an important part of the process,” stated Marielle Richon, a specialist in UNESCO’s education section. The World Heritage organization’s annual budget is only US$20 million; not a lot of money to protect 851 sites worldwide. But what they can provide is know-how to help local communities better deal with problems. “List members become part of a prestigious international community,” continued Ms. Richon, “and developing countries gain access to the World Heritage Fund, which provides oversight, technical assistance and education.”

UNESCO has also established a Sustainable Tourism Program aiming to improve both tourist management and conservation. “You can’t prevent people from travelling,” explained Christian Manhart, “but you can educate people to better handle tourism. Tour operators and guides can be better informed about conservation. And we need to better inform local populations so they can be involved in safeguarding their own culture.” And of course, travellers themselves need to be more aware of issues endangering the sites they are travelling far and wide to visit.

Technology is being used to better inform people and to help preserve world heritage online. The “World Heritage Tour” (WHT; www.world-heritage-tour.org) is a photography/web project with a goal of featuring detailed photography of all 851 World Heritage sites. “So far there are 216 World Heritage sites on the website and more than 1500 panographies [360 degree images],” explained the WHT’s director Tito Dupret. “I began the project for those who are unable to travel for whatever reason and also as a legacy to future generations of sites that are slowly disappearing because of climate change, mass tourism, mismanagement, pollution, war….”.

And in a world where cultural treasures from the Mona Lisa to the Pyramids can be see only through bullet-proof glass or from behind tourist barriers, the website offers an unique opportunity to see sites up close: said Mr. Dupret, “You can often get closer online than in person.”

So is this the future of cultural travel? Virtual travel in front of your computer screen? Ironically, this sort of threat is exactly what will inspire people to travel now…before it’s too late.

EXTRAS:
How does a site get on the World Heritage List?

The World Heritage List was begun in 1972 with the goal “to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” Each heritage site – today including cultural and natural heritage sites as well as intangible culture (e.g., rituals, music, etc), marine sites (e.g. great Barrier Reef), trans-national sites and heritage routes (e.g. the Silk Route) - is nominated by its home country, which submits a detailed proposal to UNESCO. This includes information about the site as well as future plans for conservation and management. The nomination is evaluated, and then voted on by the World Heritage Committee, which is comprised of 21 rotating country members (Canada is presently a member) who meet annually (the next meeting is in Quebec in July). They can vote to add the site to the list, ask for more documentation from the submitting country or reject the nomination. The entire process from nomination to inclusion on the list, on average, takes about 20 months. In 2007, 22 new sites were added to the World Heritage List (and 1 removed) and 3 were put on the in danger list.

For more on the process and a complete list of all 851 of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites including the 30 sites “in danger” see: http://whc.unesco.org

To visit some of these sites online see the World Heritage Tour’s website: www.world-heritage-tour.org

For more on heritage sites in peril, look for Alonzo C. Addison, Disappearing World (2008) a recent book by a UNESCO staff member looking at 101 of the world’s most endangered sites.