Angkor park part of climate change project

For posterity: Angkor will serve as one of the observer sites which will engage in climate heritage training and a peer-to-peer learning experience. — AFP

THE Angkor Archaeological Park was selected as one of 10 worldwide heritage sites for a new global initiative announced by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos).

The initiative seeks to safeguard sites of cultural significance from the impacts of climate change.

“The ‘Preserving Legacies: A Future for our Past’ project will equip communities worldwide with the tools to accurately assess worsening and future climate impacts on cultural heritage sites in order to rescue them before it is too late,” said Icomos in a press release on Tuesday.

Icomos is partnering with the National Geographic Society and Climate Heritage Network (CHN) as well as with local communities and site management teams to carry out the Manulife-funded project.

People and their cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, are increasingly vulnerable to climate change hazards, it said.

“The resulting impacts on monuments, inherited traditions and knowledge systems in turn affect people’s values, livelihoods and identity, with profound consequences for communities. And yet cultural heritage is rarely prioritised in national and international climate change policy agendas,” noted the release.

“To fill this gap, there is an urgent need to equip communities worldwide with the tools to accurately anticipate and assess worsening and future climate impacts on culture, and help them turn that scientific knowledge into action to safeguard sites,” it added.

The project will be carried out on two primary heritage sites and eight observer sites. Angkor will serve as one of the observer sites.

“Observer sites will engage in climate heritage training and a peer-to-peer learning experience.

“Participants from all sites will help grow an international community of practice focused on climate action at the intersections of cultural heritage and climate adaptation,” said Icomos.

“The programme integrates scientific, local and indigenous knowledge to find sustainable and culturally appropriate solutions to the long-term preservation of cultural heritage sites,” it added.

The goal is to foster better approaches to adaptation and learning from past ancestral practices to safeguard values for the next generations.

Apsara National Authority spokesman Long Kosal said on Wednesday that he had not yet received details of the project.

“We work with local communities to promote the intangible value of cultural heritage,” he said. — The Phnom Penh Post/ANN