Shedding light on how money is spent from heritage site ticket sales

When you hand over your money to enter a heritage site do you ever wonder where your money goes?

Anyone imagining that money from ticket sales is plowed into archaeological research or heritage preservation activities will be saddened to learn the truth, at least as far as Myanmar's famed Bagan Archaeological Area is concerned. Bagan is one of the country's top tourist attractions and on UNESCO's tentative list of world heritage sites since 1996.

Bagan pagoda (credit G. Kipling)

However, as revealed in a recent tender, the agreement reached between the Government and the Myanmar Tourism Federation (MTF), which took over ticket sales for the Archaeological Area at the beginning of March, provides for only two percent of revenues to be spent on conservation and maintenance. The remainder is split between the state's coffers (90 percent) and MTF (8 percent).

Reportedly, the site attracted more than 240,000 visitors in the past year, generating USD4.1 million in ticket sale revenues.

Bagan pagoda (credit G. Kipling)

Given the poor state of repair of many pagodas in Bagan - not to mention renovations of a dubious quality - it is a shame that the Myanmar government did not see to reinvest more in the preservation of this unique site.

Beating the oil patch bust at Banff National Park

Once known for its stunning mountain scenery and wide open plains, in recent decades the Province of Alberta has become synonymous with the ebb and flow of a resource-based economy built around the Athabasca tar sands. Despite the best efforts (and lots of public funds) of both the Alberta and Canadian governments to scrub the tar sands' negative image, the industry has seriously eroded Canada's credentials as a country committed to environmental protection.

From this perspective the collapse in oil prices over the past year may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise for the province - and the country. At a concrete level, the boom-bust cycle of the extractive sector is making the steady-as-she-goes business model of Banff National Park look all the more attractive.

Banff is one seven parks in Alberta which together constitute the Canadian Rocky Mountains Parks world heritage site. Established in 1885, it is Canada's first national park and the third world-wide. By emphasizing sustainably-paced development that balances conservation with measured infrastructure enhancements, Banff National Park has retained its reputation for providing visitors with a memorable outdoors experience while introducing new or enhanced attractions (e.g. the installation of a via ferrata on Mount Norquay) in a measured way that continues to build visitor numbers.

Banff townsite (credit: Borbrav)

As noted by Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper this week, almost four million visitors are expected in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, up 7.5 percent over the percent and up a further 10 percent over the year before. While the focus on increasing visitor numbers has provoked concern from some quarters in the environmentalist community, the approach being adopted nonetheless demonstrates a sensitivity to the various interests at stake, including protection of the natural environment. Authorities responsible for certain other world heritage sites would do well to take notice.

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

Heritage activists square off against former Georgian prime minister over hotel development in Tbilisi

A well-connected developer gets approval to build a fancy new shopping or hotel complex in an historically significant neighbourhood, prompting an angry response from heritage activists.

While this scenario will be familiar to anyone following recent news in Liverpool and Edinburgh, a more unlikely front in the battle between developers and conservationists has opened up in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia.

Approximately 400 activities reportedly gathered in Tbilisi's central square this weekend to demonstrate against the construction of a USD500 million hotel complex on the edge of the Old City. The development is being spearheaded by a company controlled by former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Tbilisi Historic District (credit: Dmitry Gerasimov*)

While the authorities claim that the development will promote tourism in Tbilisi, heritage activists counter that the development is ecologically unsustainable and will alter the character of the area to such an extent that it will effectively sink Georgia's longstanding bid - dating from 2007 - to have the historic district of Tbilisi recognized as a world heritage site.

While only time will tell whether the coalition fighting the development is successful in its effort to stop it, the conflict is already taking on a political dimension with questions being raised by the main opposition party regarding the appointment of some of Mr. Ivanishvili's former cronies at Tbilisi City Hall, where they may now be in a conflict of interest with respect to the approval process for the planned development.

* https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=450747

Bureaucratic inertia stymies restoration work at Elephanta Caves in Mumbai Harbour

Elephanta Caves, a world heritage site on a small island in the Sea of Oman near Mumbai, boast an impressive archaeological legacy dating to the 2nd century BCE. Associated with the cult of Shiva, the caves feature rock carvings and sculptures.

While the prospect of electricity being brought to Elephanta Island prompted lots of publicity last year, money set aside for restoration work at the site in last year's budget has yet to translate into any concrete action.

Temple at Elephanta, 1907

  

While work at Elephanta Caves was supposed to include landscape restoration, installation of signage and interpretation centres, improved access for disabled people and improved visitors’ amenities, nothing has actually been done apart from a "project teport." In classic bureaucratic fashion, restoration work has reportedly been stymied by the fact that responsibility for the site overlaps between the Archaeological Survey of India and the Forest Department.

It is sad to think that red tape alone is enough to stop important restoration work, despite the required funds being available.