disaster risk management; cultural heritage; world heritage site managers; perceptions; survey
Abstract :
[en] Research into the sustainable management of the world's cultural heritage (CH) is increasing. This is due to the vulnerability of CH to climate-related disasters and the perceived contribution of CH to the achievement of broader sustainability goals. Despite the perceived benefits of bringing together CH and sustainability, researchers have identified barriers that slow integration. These barriers are theoretical and practical, and targeted research would help improve the resilience of our CH. This article aims to explore the perceptions of a group of UNESCO world heritage site managers (WHSM) on disaster risk management. A questionnaire was sent to WHSM via professional email boxes. The questionnaire consisted of 26 questions designed to explore the perception of WHSM. In total, 58 responses were received, and the results produced findings worthy of discussion. WHSM still have limited access to disaster risk management strategies or practical implementation experience. Practitioners in this field perceive multiple risks, not just those related to climate change. The researchers noted that there was a tendency to focus on the most immediate problem, rather than the full range of risks they might face. It is clear that there is an opportunity to improve resilience through knowledge sharing and better communication across all CH. This is also true of individual world cultural heritage sites, with opportunities to engage more effectively with local stakeholders. This article pinpoints the current perceptions of WHSM for the academic community and highlights critical avenues of research that will aid in the overarching theoretical and operational integration of CH and sustainability.
Research Center/Unit :
LEMA Research Group
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Durrant, Louis ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > LEMA (Local environment management and analysis)
Vadher, Atish N.
Teller, Jacques ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > LEMA (Local environment management and analysis)
Language :
English
Title :
Disaster risk management and cultural heritage: The perceptions of European world heritage site managers on disaster risk management
H2020 - 821282 - SHELTER - Sustainable Historic Environments hoListic reconstruction through Technological Enhancement and community based Resilience
Name of the research project :
The SHELTER Project https://shelter-project.com/
Funders :
EU - European Union [BE]
Funding number :
821282
Funding text :
This research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 821282. The SHELTER project website is https://shelter-project.com/
Araoz, G.F., Preserving heritage places under a new paradigm. J. Cult. Herit. Manag. Sustain Dev. 1:1 (2011), 55–60, 10.1108/20441261111129933.
Smelter, I., New Values of cultural heritage and the need for a new paradigm regarding its care. Conservation: cultures and Connections. http://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2019.1604131, 2013.
Wiktor-Mach, D., Cultural heritage and development: UNESCO's new paradigm in a changing geopolitical context. Third World Q. 40:9 (2019), 1593–1612, 10.1080/01436597.2019.1604131.
Hawkes, J., The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability. Culture's Essential Role in Public Planning. 2001, Common Ground Publishing, Melbourne.
Astara, O.H., Culture Is the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development. 2014, Sustainable Development, Culture, Traditions, 93–102 1a/2a.
Sabatini, F., Culture as fourth pillar of sustainable development: perspectives for integration, paradigms of action. Eur. J. Sustain. Dev. 8 (2019), 31–40.
Petti, L., C. Trillo, B.N. Makore. Cultural heritage and sustainable development targets: a possible harmonisation? Insights from the European perspective. Sustainability MDPI 12:3 (2020), 926–950, 10.3390/su12030926.
Aureli, S., Del Baldo, M., Stakeholders' consciousness of cultural heritage and the reconciliation of different needs for sustainable development. J. Cult. Herit. Manag. Sustain Dev., 2022, 10.1108/JCHMSD-10-2020-0156.
Durrant, L.J., Vadher, A.N., Sarăc, M., Bašoglu, D., Teller, J., Using organigraphs to map disaster risk management governance in the field of cultural heritage. Sustainability MDPI 14:2 (2022), 1002–1014, 10.3390/su14021002.
F. De Masi, F. Larosa, D., Porrini, Mysiak, J. Cultural heritage and disasters risk: a machine-human coupled analysis. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduc. 59(19). DOI:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102251.
Rosa, A., Santangelo, A., Tondelli, S., Investigating the integration of cultural heritage disaster risk management into urban planning tools. The ravenna case study. Sustainability, 13, 2021, 872, 10.3390/su13020872.
Garcia, B.M., Resilient cultural heritage: from global to national levels – the case of Bhutan. Disaster Prev. Manag. 29:1 (2019), 36–46, 10.1108/DPM-08-2018-0285.
B.M. Garcia. Integrating culture in post-crisis urban recovery: Reflections on the power of cultural heritage to deal with crisis. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduc. 60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102277.
Sabbioni, C., Cassar, M., Brimblecombe, P., Lefèvre, R.-A., Vulnerability of Cultural Heritage to Climate Change. 2009, Pollution Atmospherique, 157–169.
Bosher, L., Kim, D., Okubo, T., K, Chmutina, R., Jigyasu, Dealing with multiple hazards and threats on cultural heritage sites: an assessment of 80 case studies. Disaster Prev. Manag.: Int. J. 29:1 (2019), 109–128, 10.1108/dpm-08-2018-0245.
Brimblecombe, P., Refining climate change threats to heritage. J. Inst. Conserv. 37:2 (2014), 85–93, 10.1080/19455224.2014.916226.
UNESCO. Convention Concerning the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage. World Heritage Convention. 1972 Available online: https://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/ 13/12/22.
UNESCO. Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the world heritage convention. Available online: https://whc.unesco.org/archive/opguide12-en.pdf, 2012 16/12/22.
UNESCO. UNESCO's strategy for action on Climate change. Available on: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000259255, 2017 12/01/23.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030. Available online: https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030 accessed on 04/01/23.
Goniewicz, K., Burkle, F.M., Challenges in implementing Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction in Poland. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health, 16(14), 2019, 10.3390/ijerph16142574.
Mizutori, M., Reflections on the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction: five years since its adoption. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 11 (2020), 147–151, 10.1007/s13753-020-00261-2.
Djalante, R., Lassa, S., Governing complexities and its implication on the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction priority 2 on governance. Prog. Disaster Sci., 2, 2019, 100010.
Zaidi, R.Z., Fordham, M., The missing half of the Sendai framework: gender and women in the implementation of global disaster risk reduction policy. Progress in Disaster Science, 10, 2021, 10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100170.
Nocca, F., The role of cultural heritage in sustainable development: multidimensional indicators as decision-making tool. Sustainability (MDPI) 9:10 (2017), 1882–1910.
Busayo, E.T., Kalumba, A.M., Afuye, G.A., Ekundayo, O.Y., Orimoloye, I.R., Assessment of the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction studies since 2015. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduc., 50, 2020, 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101906.
UNESCO. Reducing disaster risks at world heritage properties. Available online: https://whc.unesco.org/en/disaster-risk-reduction/, 2015 17/01/23.
UNESCO. Site managers forum, friday 30th June 2017 thursday 06th july 2017 calendar events. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/events/1394/, 2017.
UNESCO. The world heritage convention. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/, 2022 24/02/22.
UNESCO. Strengthening disaster risk reduction at world heritage properties: the olympia protocol for international cooperation. Available at: http://www.iaa-conservation.org.il/images/files/pdf_docs/Olympia_Protocol.pdf, 2009 25/02/22.
UNESCO, World Heritage Convention, ICCROM, ICOMOC & IUCN. Managing disaster risk for world heritage. World heritage resource manual. Available at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2010-105.pdf, 2009 25/02/2022.
Graham, K., Spennermann, D.H.R., Heritage managers and their attitudes towards disaster management for cultural heritage resources in New South Wales, Australia. Int. J. Emerg. Manag., 3(3), 2006, 10.1504/IJEM.2006.011169.
Pavlova, I., Makarigakis, A., Depret, T., Jomelli, V., Global overview of the geological hazard exposure and disaster risk awareness at world heritage sites. J. Cult. Herit. 28 (2017), 151–157, 10.1016/j.culher.2015.11.001.
Sesana, E., Gagnon, A.S., Bertolin, C., Hughes, J., Adapting cultural heritage to climate change risks: perspectives of cultural heritage experts in Europe. Geosciences, 8(8), 2018, 308, 10.3390/geosciences8080305.
Fatorić, S., Biesbroek, R., Adapting cultural heritage to climate change impacts in The Netherlands: barriers, interdependencies, and strategies for overcoming them. Climatic Change 162 (2020), 301–320, 10.1007/s10584-020-02831-1.
UNESCO. Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage Adopted by the General Conference at its seventeenth session Paris. 16th November https://whc.unesco.org/archive/convention-en.pdf, 1972 01/02/2022.
Pederson, A., Managing tourism at world heritage sites: a practical manual for world heritage site managers. Available online: https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-113-2.pdf, 2022 17/01/22.
Boudiaf, B., Tourism and the Heritage Conservation of the Historical Areas. College of Engineering. 2019, D.A.E; Ajman University U.A.E. Available at: researchgate.net/publication/336917424_TOURISM_AND_THE_HERITAGE_CONSERVATION_OF_THE_HISTORICAL_AREAS_TOURISM_AND_THE_HERITAGE_CONSERVATION_OF_THE_HISTORICAL_AREAS 21/01/23.
Lai, L.W.C., Sustainable development of heritage conservation and tourism: a Hong Kong case study on colonial heritage. Sustain. Dev., 28(5), 2020, 10.1002/sd.2067.
Weber, Melissa, Groulx, Mark, Lemieux, Christopher J., Scott, Daniel, Dawson, Jackie, Balancing the dual mandate of conservation and visitor use at a Canadian world heritage site in an era of rapid climate change. J. Sustain. Tourism 27:9 (2019), 1318–1337, 10.1080/09669582.2019.1620754.
Lussetyowati, T., Preservation and conservation through cultural heritage tourism. Case Study: Musi Riverside Palembang. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 184 (2015), 401–406, 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.05.109.
Li, Y., Heritage tourism: the contradictions between conservation and change. Tourism Hospit. Res. 4:3 (2003), 247–261, 10.1177/146735840300400305.
Harney, M., Conservation and Cultural Tourism: Conflicts and Solutions. 2019, EAAE Transactions on Architectural Education no. 6615 Hasselt, Belgium, 161–171.
Norton, B.J., Conservation and Preservation a conceptual rehabilitation. Environ. Ethics 8:3 (1986), 195–220, 10.5840/enviroethics1986832.
Moseley, W.G., Book Chapter 12. Conservation-Preservation. 2016, New York University Press. From the book Keywords for Environmental Studies, 10.18574/nyu/9780814760741.003.0017.
Erbas, A.E., Cultural heritage conservation and culture-led tourism conflict within the historic site in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. WIT Trans. Ecol. Environ. 217 (2018), 647–659, 10.2495/SDP180551.
Sesana, E., Gagnon, A.S., Ciantelli, C., Cassar, J., Hughes, J.J., Climate change impacts on cultural heritage: a literature review. WIRES Climate Change, 12(4), 2021, 10.1002/wcc.710.
Myland, L., Grahn, W., Identifying heritage values in local communities. Int. J. Herit. Stud. 18 (2011), pp1–24, 10.1080/13527258.2011.619554.
Fatoric, S., Seekamp, E., Are cultural heritage and resources threatened by climate change? A systematic literature review. Climatic Change 142 (2017), 227–254, 10.1007/s10584-017-1929-9 [48].