Transcript DESTINATARI DELLE NORME INTERNAZIONALI

Natural Disasters and Cultural
Heritage: International Risk
Prevention and Management
Strategies
by Anna Vigorito
The “physical” conservation of
tangible cultural heritage
1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural
and Natural Heritage
The agreement - the scope of which is limited to heritage of outstanding
universal value for which the owner State has requested and obtained
listing in the World Heritage List (WHL) - operates in full compliance with
the principle of sovereignty and the obligation to protect, conserve,
enhance and transmit world cultural (and natural) heritage to future
generations, which is primarily the responsibility of the State on whose
territory the property to be protected is located. For property listed on the
WHL, the owner State must first use up all the resources it has available
and, only if necessary, resort to the system of international cooperation
and assistance provided by the agreement. Intervention by the
international community, therefore, is complementary to national action
and can only be activated in support of the States themselves that do not
have sufficient means to ensure adequate protection of their heritage.
Follows: 1972 UNESCO Convention
A cultural or natural property already listed on the WHL
may also be entered in the World Heritage List in
Danger (WHLD) provided that:
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extraordinary maintenance is needed to ensure its
preservation;
the owner State has submitted a request for assistance under
this agreement;
the property is threatened by serious and specific damage
linked to either human activities or, indeed, to natural
phenomena and disasters (Article 11 (4)).
Follows: 1972 UNESCO Convention
Only with respect to property already listed on the
WHL and/or WHLD, and those with the necessary
characteristics for their inclusion, States Parties may
benefit from the international complementary
assistance foreseen in the 1972 agreement.
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emergency assistance
preparatory assistance
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conservation and management assistance
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Impact of climate changes on cultural heritage
E.g.:
 sites located along the coast whose integrity is threatened by coastal
erosion;
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the archaeological areas whose conservation is threatened by
increased flooding;
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the cultural heritage of the semi-arid areas affected by the effects of
desertification and drought.
Venice, together with its lagoon
2007 Strategy for Risk Reduction
at World Heritage Properties
The Strategy aims to assist State Parties to the 1972 Convention
so that they
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Integrate into national disaster risk management policies initiatives
that include the protection of cultural heritage;
And consider the prevention of disasters as a priority requirement for
the protection of cultural (and natural) property.
To this end, it suggests that States focus their activities on five
objectives:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
strengthen the commitment of key global, regional, national and local
institutions to reduce the risks to heritage related to disasters;
use knowledge, innovation and education to spread the culture of
prevention in this arena;
identify, assess and monitor risks to heritage attributable to natural
disasters;
act to reduce risk factors;
strengthen preventive action to enable coping with the consequences
of disasters in the most effective way.
Follows: 2007 Strategy
The Strategy also lists priority actions that States should promote
in order to more quickly activate the five objectives listed above,
actions in line with those already defined in the Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of
Nations and Communities to Disasters, the main UN plan on the
theme of disaster reduction.
The impact of natural disasters and catastrophes
on the “intangible cultural heritage”
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It should be noted, finally, that disasters, whatever their origin, can also damage
intangible heritage (i.e., the set of traditional practices and rituals that
characterize the lifestyle of a community). We refer to areas inhabited by
indigenous groups who follow traditional lifestyles that are threatened: in these
cases, structural damage to the site could force local residents to emigrate and
eventually to disperse and affect the conservation and transmission to future
generations of important elements of their cultural identity.
It should also be noted that the Strategy for Risk Reduction at World Heritage
Properties has recognized, for the first time, the central role that intangible
heritage can play, in many cases, in the prevention and management of risks
related to natural disasters. For example, UNESCO’s observations during recent
earthquakes show that those buildings that were less damaged by the
earthquakes appear to be those built with “traditional” urban techniques.
The knowledge handed down verbally from father to son has in other
circumstances even saved lives: in 2004, during the tsunami that devastated
Southeast Asia, many fishermen on the Andatane Islands (in India) were able to
predict the imminent tsunami and escape the fury of the waves thanks to the
knowledge of tides passed down verbally from their ancestors.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
1) Tangible cultural heritage can be threatened by the risk
factors examined in the course of the report (i.e., those related to
disasters and natural catastrophes), as well as events related to
human activities (consider armed conflicts, the construction of
public works of great environmental impact, intentional
destruction of heritage such as the Buddhas of Bamiyan).
However, while the latter events are due to the direct action of
man (who can choose, therefore, to avoid them), the risk factors
related to disasters and natural catastrophes cannot be –in
several cases- foreseen nor controlled by man. With respect to
these, therefore, either States act in advance by adopting
measures that will reduce the impact on the heritage, or
measures are activated ex post to rebuild/recover the damaged
property. This is also evident from the objectives and priority
actions identified by the 2007 Strategy and the forms of
assistance provided by the 1972 Convention that can be
activated in the event of natural disasters or catastrophes.
Follows: Final considerations
2) To these considerations, however, another must be added: the
risk of natural disasters also increases as a result of the impact of
climate change on the ecosystem that, as is known, is a direct
result of the impact of unsustainable human activities on the
environment: by strengthening the protection of the environment,
therefore, States would also gain significant indirect advantages
for the purpose of preserving cultural heritage. This approach is
also confirmed by the reports published by UNESCO, which
suggest including among the tools necessary for the preservation
of cultural heritage from risks related to climate change, precisely
various international agreements and plans relating to the field of
environmental law, in particular, UNESCO’s Programme on Man
and the Biosphere, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the
United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kyoto Protocol.
3) In conclusion, only an integrated, global and multi-disciplinary
conservation policy of all components of the human environment
(i.e., natural and cultural heritage resulting from human activity)
can really help to improve the quality of life for current
generations and protect the rights of future generations.
THANK YOU!