Cashing in on Vietnam’s world heritage

Vietnam is justifiably emerging as one of South-East Asia’s most popular destinations, with over 10 million inbound tourists in 2016, up from less than 4 million in 2009. With a rich and vibrant culture, engaging history and varied landscape, the country seems set on a continued upward trajectory of rapid growth in its tourism industry.  

And yet... 

The temptation to focus on short-term profit over long-term sustainability is creating serious problems and putting at risk the very destinations which are drawing visitors to Vietnam in the first place. Nowhere is this more apparent than at some of the country’s most popular world heritage sites: Hoi An, Ha Long Bay and, most recently, Trang An.  

Hoi An Ancient Town was designated a world heritage site in 1999. A small-scale trading port between the 15th and 19th centuries, Hoi An began to attract foreign visitors in the late 1990s, who came to enjoy the city’s remarkably well-preserved historic centre as well as the pristine white sand beach at nearby Cua Dai. 

Fast-forward 20 years and you will find a very different place. Hoi An received 3.2 million visitors in 2017, a 22 percent increase over the previous year and an all-time record for the town. For my part, returning to Hoi An last summer for the first time in seven years, not only was I taken aback by the crowds and congestion but there seems to be very little going on in the historic centre apart from tourist-oriented stores and services.

Tour groups visiting Hoi An's iconic Japanese Bridge (Credit: G. Kipling)

While local authorities are to be commended for their efforts to maintain the architectural integrity and visual character of Hoi An’s historic centre, there is clearly a Venice effect at work as well, where overtourism risks degrading visitors’ experience while the local environment suffers long-term adverse consequences. 

A case in point is the near disappearance of much of Cua Dai beach due to coastal erosion. Though Vietnamese authorities emphasize external factors like global warming and rising sea levels, it is clear that uncontrolled hotel development and widespread sand-mining in the area are key contributors to the problem. And sadly even if authorities demonstrate more backbone than they have in the past to ensure sustainable tourism development in the larger Hoi An region, they are likely to find that problems that were years in the making will take decades to resolve.  

Arguably the situation is even more acute in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam’s north-east. Inscribed as a world heritage site in 1994, Ha Long is instantly recognizable for its towering Karst pillars rising above the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Indeed, for many no visit to Vietnam is complete without a cruise aboard one the countless “junks” and other assorted watercraft large and small which ply Ha Long Bay every day of the year. 

As one might expect in what has historically been a largely unregulated boat-cruise industry, the result has been congestion on the water, unhappy tourists cheated by unscrupulous operators and, more seriously, a string of boat fires and other accidents which have resulted in injuries and even deaths. Uncontrolled garbage and sewage disposal are also major problems in the area, which are threatening local ecosystems and turning off tourists. 

As one Australian visitor put it after taking a dip near Ha Long’s Dau Be Island: "I was only in for a few minutes. I went under and came out, covered in something — I thought it was oil — and smelled really bad. Some of the children on our boat later came out in a rash."   

Aerial view of Cat Ba Island (Credit: K. Martyn)

Again, amidst the gloom there are some signs that Vietnamese authorities are waking up to the risk they are running by allowing tourism and other industries to run roughshod over what was once a pristine environment. After a public outcry in 2015 the authorities stopped coal shipping near the world heritage site, and more recently Quang Ninh Province implemented a USD30m waste processing centre, although a mooted water protection program for the Bay remains pending. In the year ahead I expect more announcements regarding measures to further protect Ha Long Bay’s environment and regulate its tourism industry. However, as is the case elsewhere in Vietnam, weak rule of law and a profit maximization mindset are likely to undermine the positive impact of any any such measures. 

The seeming inability (or unwillingness?) of provincial and local authorities to protect Vietnam’s heritage sites is currently much in the public eye in the wake of the controversial construction of a 2,000-step staircase a 2,000-step staircase to the top of a mountain within the Trang An Landscape Complex world heritage site. 

Located in Vietnam's northern province of Ninh Binh, Trang An boasts a lush landscape studded with precipitous limestone peaks. Well-established as a domestic tourism magnet, Trang An had already acquired a reputation for over-the-top commercialism long before this latest incident. That being said, the company involved, Trang An Tourism JSC, has shown staircase venture remarkable chutzpah with its staircase venture. 

Reportedly ignoring cease-and-desist orders from the local commune as it built the staircase between August and December 2017, it was allowed to open to the public this past January and if press photos are to be believed the staircase has proven a hit with visitors. 

Illegal staircase at Trang An (credit: VnExpress/Tran Quan)

As is the way with these things, a rising public furore over the staircase finally goaded the national culture ministry to step into the fray, and just this past week it ordered the staircase's removal. Finger-pointing between local and provincial authorities has followed, yet the reality is that this is hardly an unusual tactic for unscrupulous entrepreneurs: disobey the rules and then insist you had permission all along.

As Vietnam's tourism industry continues to mature I expect that more attention will be paid to sustainable practices and we'll see fewer and fewer cases where environmental protection rules are so blatantly disregarded as was the case in Trang An. However, the existential question for Vietnam's world heritage sites is whether attitudes will change quickly enough to avoid irreversible damage in the meantime.

 

Globalization, cheap lemons and the crumbling away of a world heritage site

Globalization and production outsourcing have been blamed for many woes - Donald J. Trump's recent attacks on China being a classic of the genre - but I've never seen a story this week linking cheap foreign fruit to the possible destruction of one of the world's most iconic world heritage sites.

The Amalfi Coast, located in southern Italy in the Province of Salerno, was inscribed on UNESCO's world heritage list in 1997. With its picturesque villages and dramatic landscape, the region has long been a favourite destination for both Italian and foreign tourists.

Amalfi Coast (photo credit: Gilbert Bochenek

However, leading geologists have reportedly issued a warning that the coastal zone is at risk of crumbling into the sea. The problem is that the region's lemon farmers, who have built and maintained a system of stone retaining walls known as "lemon terraces" over hundreds of years, are abandoning their groves as lemon cultivation becomes a losing proposition in the face of cheaper lemons grown abroad.

The impact, according to geologists, is a mounting risk of landslides, and with it the natural beauty on which the region's world heritage designation and associated tourism depends.

Lemon orchard, Amalfi Coast (photo credit: Jensens)

Without wishing to romanticize what is undoubtedly back-breaking and sometimes dangerous work, it is sad to think that traditional lemon farming on the Amalfi Coast is disappearing, and with it the distinct character, history and perhaps even the physical landscape of a uniquely beautiful region.

Palmyra's predecessors: This weeks marks the 15th anniversary of the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas

While so-called Islamic State (IS) has distinguished itself among Islamist militant outfits with the ferocity of its attacks on the ancient cultural heritage of Syria and Iraq, it is worth recalling that IS is merely following in the footsteps of  fellow-travellers such as the Taliban of Afghanistan.

And in this regard tomorrow (March 2, 2016) marks a particularly inauspicious anniversary: it will be precisely 15 years since Taliban fighters began the process of destroying two massive statues of Buddha that had been carved into a hillside in Bamiyan Valley in Central Afghanistan more 1,500 years ago. Recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 2003, the archaeological remains and cultural landscape of Bamiyan Valley contain many ancient Buddhist monasteries and sanctuaries, as well the two Buddhas, which stood 55m and 38m high respectively.

Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan (credit: Mr Afghanistan*)

Following the issuance of an edict in late February 2001 by Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar to destroy all idolatrous statues throughout the country, fighters embarked on a two-week campaign to demolish the Buddha statues, employing rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft cannon and tank shells in the process.

While the destruction was widely condemned at the time, who would have imagined that the world would be in exactly the same situation a decade and a half later, standing by powerlessly as narrow-minded militants in locales as diverse as Timbuktu in Mali and Palmyra in Syria engaged in similarly wanton acts of destruction of the world's cultural and religious heritage.

* https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11024747

Italy caps visitors to Cinque Terre in a victory for local residents

Designated a world heritage site in 1997, the stretch of coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere in Italy's Liguria Region has some of the world's most picturesque villages and most striking landscape.

However, as reported on this blog last October, the region's beauty has proven something of a curse for the local population, as tourist numbers have skyrocketed following the establishment of a cruise ship terminal nearby.

Cinque Terre, Liguria (credit: Idéfix-commonswiki)

In a victory for those opposed to mass tourism in Cinque Terre, Italian authorities have announced this week that that they will limit visitors to the area through a ticketing system that will stop access to the area once a pre-defined maximum has been reached. In doing so, authorities hope to reduce the number of visitors from 2.5 million last year to 1.5 million in 2016.

I expect community groups adversely affected by mass tourism elsewhere will be watching this initiative this with interest.

Everyday threats faced by world heritage sites

Beyond their fearsome reputation for killing, maiming and terrorizing local populations (and the few foreigners who happen to fall into their hands), militant Islamist outfits like the Taliban and so-called Islamic State have become known for their enthusiastic pillaging and destruction of cultural heritage. While the razing of ancient monuments at Bamiyan (Afghanistan) and Palmyra (Syria) – both world heritage sites – are certainly among their most infamous handiwork, many lesser sites have also been targeted with equally grim results.

Triumphal arch at Palmyra (now destroyed) *

While the attention and oppobrium that these incidents garner is entirely understandable, it is worth keeping in mind that IS is not the only culprit. Heritage sites the world over are suffering cumulative damage caused by visitors and those working in the tourism business. While the scale of any particular incident is not comparable say to the destruction of an ancient tomb in Timbuktu, over time the impact can nonetheless be highly destructive.

Take for example the ancient rock-art of Tadrart Acacus in Libya. Having survived up to 12,000 years, the world heritage site have in recent times been wantonly vandalised by both tourists and tour guides.

Ancient rock art in Tadrart Acacus in Libya (credit: Robert D'Angelo)

These acts are inexcusable, and while arguably authorities should be doing more to safeguard heritage sites like Tradart Acacus, visitors must take responsibility as well, and be held to account when they are found to have damaged a site, whether through malice, carelessness or ignorance.

* The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1860 - 1929). Triumphal arch of temple at Palmyra, Syria. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-6192-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Heritage campaigners score a victory in Lahore

Heritage campaigners in Lahore, Pakistan scored a victory this week in their ongoing struggle to stop the government from building an elevated tram-line near Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens, part of a royal complex established in the 16th century under Mughal rule and today a UNESCO world heritage site.

Lahore Fort, ca 1889 (see citation below) *

 
On January 28, 2016 the Lahore High Court reportedly issued an injunction suspending all work within 60 meters of both sites. This ruling follows an intervention by UNESCO last week calling on the government to consider alternate routes that would not risk damaging the site.

Congratulations to those involved in stopping an ill-considered plan; we can only hope that the government accepts the ruling and explores alternate routes.

* Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. Lahore Gate, entrance to the fort at Delhi. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-6246-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

NASA imagery to help preserve Peru's Nasca Lines

Proving the point that any story that can draw on the glamour of NASA and its space program, media this week are reporting on an agreement reached whereby NASA will provide Peruvian authorities with radar imagery of the Nasca Lines to help protect from damage.

The Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca, scratched into Peru's rocky coastal desert between 500 BCE and 500 CE, were named a world heritagesite in 1994 and are famously one of archaeology's great enigmas.

Aerial view of a Nasca geoglyhph depicting a monkey

While the Nasca Lines have suffered damage over the years as a result of human activity - including tourism - their protection became a matter of international attention in the wake of an ill-fated protest in support of renewable energy by the environmentalist organization Greenpeace in 2014, which allegedly disturbed the Lines.

Under the agreement, imagery will be shared on a no-cost basis, allowing authorities to quickly spot potential threats to the Nasca Lines, and hopefully address them before any damage is done.

Lima newspaper El Comercio has given readers a sense of what the information to be provided with the publication of an image showing one of the geoglyphs along with apparent damage to the site.

Questionable restoration work threatens ancient pagoda at Myanmar's Mrauk-U

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Spanish philosopher George Santayana's words seem an apt characterization of the Myanmar Department of Archaeology as it pushes forward with questionable restoration work at Mrauk-U in Rakhine State. Mrauk-U was the capital of the Arakanese kingdom between the 15th to the 18th century, and boasts more 1,500 ancient pagodas.

Couloir-Koe-Thaung by Nils PERBET

As reported by the Myanmar Times this week, the Mrauk-U Heritage Trust has raised the alarm over the rebuilding of historic pagodas without regard for the original design, abandoning any pretence of historical authenticity. This follows on the heels of the reported destruction of part of the heritage zone some years ago for the construction of a railway.

While some continue to hold Mrauk-U as a potential world heritage site, the experience of Bagan does not offer much cause optimism. Impressive by any measure and undoubtedly one of Myanmar's top tourist attractions, Bagan's 1996 nomination as a world heritage was rejected by UNESCO, in part due to the prevalence of inauthentic restorations.

Pagodas at Bagan

We can only hope that the Rakhine State Government heeds the Mrauk-U Heritage Trust's warnings.

ICC case involving Timbuktu war crimes suspect inches forward

The trial of Mr. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is one step closer today with the Court's ruling that confirmation of charges against Mr. Al Mahdi would take place on March 1, 2016.

As reported previously on this blog, Mr. Al Mahdi stands accused of war crimes in relation to the destruction of mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu, a world heritage site, while the city was under occupation by Islamist forces in 2012.

f the charges are confirmed, the case will be transferred to a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings.

Islamic State militants seize control of world heritage site in Libya

News media are reporting today that another world heritage site has fallen into the hands of so-called Islamic State (IS). The archaeological site of Sabratha in north-western Libya, was a Phoenician trading-post before being integrated into the Roman Empire and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.

According to The Times newspaper, IS fighters travelling in 30 pick-up trucks set up checkpoints throughout the city, with fears mounting regarding the archaeological site, which includes on the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.

Let's hope that Libya's IS militants does not seek to emulate the behaviour of their confrères in Palmyra...

Rising sea levels threaten world heritage site in West Africa

With the world's media focussed on the "COP21" climate conference in Paris this week, stories with a climate change angle are proliferating across the Internet. One of the most striking from my perspective is the impact of rising sea levels on the Island of Saint-Louis in Senegal. Saint-Louis, a world heritage site since 2000, became an entrepot for European traders in the second half of the 17th century, and the political capital of French West Africa (FWA) until 1902, and capital of Senegal and Mauritania up until 1957.

Today, the coast is being eroded at several points around the island and buildings in outlying villages are being washed away by the sea. According to UN-HABITAT, Saint-Louis is the most vulnerable city in Africa to rising sea levels. And while the Senegalese government has recently announced a USD1.6 million project to build breakwaters, much of the population is at risk, along with the island's unique cultural and natural heritage.

Taj Mahal under threat by al-Qaeda?

A number of Indian media outlets are reporting in recent days on a threat purportedly made by the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda against the Taj Mahal and other heritage sites in India.

While the reports are short on detail, security forces are said to be on heightened alert and visitors are additional subjected to additional checks.

Assuming this is a credible threat, let's hope the increased security is enough to prevent any terrorist incident.

Peru proposes a code of conduct for NGOs following Greenpeace's ill-judged Nasca Lines protest

Many Peruvians were outraged in December 2014 when Greepeace staged a protest in support of renewable energy that involved laying yellow fabric letters near the Nasca Lines. The Nasca Lines are one of Peru's leading world heritage sites and encompass a series of gigantic geoglyphs etched into the Pacific coastal desert between 500 BCE and 500 CE. Peruvian officials accused Greenpeace of permanently damaging the geoglyphs, which in turn led to an embarrassing climb-down for the organization.

Greenpeace protest at Nasca Lines in December 2014

Now, Peru is promoting the approval of a code of conduct at UNESCO for NGOs and civil society organizations to respect countries' cultural heritage. According to the Agencia Peruana de Noticias, the code would establish expected behaviours to help preserve and conserve the world’s cultural heritage and prevent it from being damaged.

While this sounds like a worthy initiative, we will have to wait until the proposal is formally tabled at an upcoming UNESCO committee meeting in Namibia to gauge the level of support among other member states.

A novel concept: offering "asylum" to IS-threatened artwork

In what may have seemed a good idea to his speechwriter, French President François Hollande failed - in my view - to show good form in offering to grant "asylum" to antiquities being trafficked out of Syria and Iraq by the so-called Islamic State (IS).

At a time when Europe is facing its greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War and the far right is seeking to galvanize public opinion against Syrians fleeing their country's civil war, Mr. Holland could have chosen a different metaphor at a speech this week to UNESCO's general conference. That being said, France's commitment to reinforce action against trafficked antiquities is welcome, and hopefully French authorities will do all that they promise.

Activist judge raises the alarm over a crematorium near the Taj Mahal

Not only is the Taj Mahal India's foremost tourist destination, it is also a leading world heritage site and its iconic white dome and minarets are among India's most recognizable cultural symbols.

As such, it is perhaps no surprise that an Indian Supreme Court judge, during a recent visit to the famous mausoleum, was concerned that its beauty was being sullied by smoke from a nearby wood-burning crematorium. Moved to action, he reportedly raised his concern with fellow judges, who in turn issued an order to the State of Uttar Pradesh to relocate the wood-burning crematorium or replace it with an electric one. 

The state government has 15 days to respond, though it is not clear what sanctions it would face if it fails to do so.

The quiet destruction of Yemen's cultural heritage

While the Syrian civil war and its repercussions both within and beyond the Middle East monopolise much of world media's attention, the conflict in nearby Yemen seems largely to escape attention, notwithstanding the indiscriminate attacks that are ravaging this already poor country.

While there are many reasons for the lack of reporting on this conflict, the prognosis for Yemen and its people is increasingly grim, whether measured in the conflict's human toll or its economic and physical impacts. On November 16, 2015 The Intercept published an excellent article on this latter aspect of the conflict, and particularly in relation to Yemen's rich cultural heritage. It makes for difficult reading, and no less disturbing are the photos of the damage caused by Saudi-led air strikes on historical buildings.

Given the willingness of Western governments to condemn the destruction of cultural heritage in places like Iraq, Syria and Mali, it is more than passing strange that these same governments would drag their feet when presented the opportunity recent at the UN to hold Saudi Arabia to account for its actions in Yemen.

Syrian cultural heritage in Islamic State's crosshairs

Addressing the Italian Parliament last week, Syrian Director General of Antiquities and Museums Maamoun Abdulkarim was grim in his assessment of the situation facing archaeological sites in his homeland. With up to 300 sites under the control of the so-called Islamic State (IS), Syria's magnificent cultural heritage faces a double risk. On the one hand IS continues to destroy artefacts it considers idolatrous. On the other, it is heavily involved in antiquities trafficking as a ready source of funds for its struggle. 

Sadly no happy ending is yet in sight.

Destruction of cultural heritage in conflict zones: not just a Middle Eastern problem

While the destruction of ancient cultural heritage in places like Palmyra and Timbuktu have garnered the world's outrage, no such condemnation followed similar destruction in the conflicts that erupted on Europe's south-eastern flank following the break-up of the Soviet Union. However, the issue is now resurfacing both in the Balkans and Caucasus.

As recently reported by the Balkan Transitional Justice Initiative, Kosovo's efforts to become a member of UNESCO have rbecome a lightning rod for recriminations between Kosovo and Serbia over the destruction of cultural and religious monuments in both countries the 1990s. However, despite accusations on both sides of wilful destruction of monuments, local courts have - with very few exceptions - failed to prosecute those responsible. And in the Balkans more broadly, the tally is also said to include 1,200 mosques destroyed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 2,440 buildings of cultural importance in Croatia.

Meanwhile, longstanding tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan surfaced this week at the UNESCO general session when Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian took the opportunity during his address to condemn the alleged destruction of medieval Armenian artifacts, including cross-stones and churches, in Armenia's Nakhijevan region. For his part, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to UNESCO, Anar Karimov, has condemned Armenia for much the same reason, citing for example the destruction of the ancient Aga-Dede mosque and cemetery in Amernia's Masis region.

While the accusations and counter-accusations are not in themselves likely to usher in greater protection for cultural heritage in conflict zones, the fact that the issue is being discussed at all is welcome, and hopefully over time a new international consensus can be reached.

First aid for cultural heritage

Fresh on the heels a recent proposal to deploy UN Blue Helmets to protect world heritage sites in conflict zones, UNESCO announced this week a course on "first aid to cultural heritage in times of crisis."

Organized jointly by the Smithsonian Institute and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the course provides "strategies for interlocking humanitarian  specialists with cultural ones in order to better integrate cultural responses during an emergency situation ... The course [also] imparts practical skills and knowledge for taking simple measures to secure and stabilize endangered cultural heritage."

Anyone interested in taking the course must act quickly: the deadline for applications is November 9, 2015...

Huaqueros, or the scourge of Peru's ancient grave sites

When it comes to the pillaging and loss of cultural heritage, the Middle East is currently top of mind given recent events in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen. However, destruction and looting of historical sites remains a problem the world over, and especially in those places where the rule of law is more shaky.

One such country is Peru, which has an incredibly diverse historical legacy, ranging from the City of Cuzco,  to the lines and geoglyphs of Nasca. Yet it also suffers from corruption and endemic poverty among large segments of the population. Combined with the demand for pre-Columbian artefacts on the international market, these factors have created permissive conditions for the pillage of sites like this ancient cemetery near the Pan-American Highway south of Lima.

Looted ancient cemetery in coastal Peru

A stone's throw from the highway the desert sand was pockmarked with pits. Skulls, bones, rotting fabric and clay pots were strewn everywhere. Visiting the site, one could not but wonder what would drive someone to show such a lack of respect for the deceased, whether they died ten years ago or a thousand. Sadly, huaqueros - as those who specialize in looting forgotten graves or burial sites are known - continue to operate throughout Peru.