[ALOCHONA] Most Endangered Heritage Sites in 2008 :Sonargaon-Panam City also enlisted among the 100 most endangered sites

Most Endangered Heritage Sites in 2008 :Sonargaon-Panam City also enlisted among the 100 most endangered sites

by Mohammad Shahidul Islam

The watch list of 100 most endangered sites was publicized last year by Bonnie Burnham, President of WMF (World Monuments Fund), the nonprofit organization that, for more than three decades, has been active in protecting and conserving hundreds of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the world through public awareness and research support.  The watch list for 2008 underlines three critical man-made threats: 

Political conflict; unchecked urban and industrial development; and global climate change (for the first time).

 

The 2008 Watch List evidently proves that human activity has become the utmost threat of all to the world's cultural heritage, causing unalterable damage to many of the important places in the world that provide unique access to shared human history.  Pollution eats away at ancient stones.  The rapid rise in global tourism is bringing more and more people to fragile and often unprotected places. Cities and suburbs are spreading unchecked, at the expense of historic landscapes and buildings.

"The World Monuments Watch List is our best indicator of the pressures that face the field of heritage preservation," said World Monuments Fund President Bonnie Burnham.  "On this list, man is indeed the real enemy.  But, just as we caused the damage in the first place, we have the power to repair it, by taking our responsibility as caretakers of the world's cultural heritage seriously.  So today we are sounding the alarm, using the World Monuments Watch List to demonstrate, through the vivid examples of beloved places around the world, the importance of working together to meet these challenges and join forces to protect our world's shared architectural heritage" the president commented.

Political friction and armed conflict are not only inflicting havoc on sites directly—with modern weapons more destructive than ever—but are destroying communities, leaving the world's cultural heritage open to neglect, vandalism, and looting.  And, perhaps most daunting of all, the destructive effects of global climate change are already clearly apparent.  The 2008 Watch List includes several sites that are threatened right now by flooding, encroaching desert, and changing weather patterns. Forlornly, future lists will bring many more known and popular sites to us.  

 

Sites threatened by political conflict

International or geo-political conflict, whether past, current or looming, among countries in the world, has become one of the cruelest threats to cultural heritage.

Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan have been a tragic victim of world politics. Political conflict in the questionable form makes it dreadful illustrations of the significance of cultural heritage and the consequences of its devastation. The available fragments and historic milieu hang endangered and their future is in a big question.

So-called Palestinian Territories have damaged its respect and existence. The Church of the Holy Nativity at Bethlehem, one of Christianity's oldest churches, is now decaying as a result of contemporary political conflicts.

People around the world are shocked by the devastation of Cultural Heritage Sites in Iraq. Ongoing clashes have led to harmful loss at the world's oldest and most important cultural sites. The remaining ones are not safe. The damage continues.

In India, Srinigar Heritage Zone's conventional structures were constructed to endure earthquakes, but are suffering as a result of the current flux and conflict in the Kashmir region.

Sarajevo City Hall in Bosnia and Herzegovina is famous as an architectural testament to the cultural diversity of the city. This beautiful structure has been damaged by war.

Freetown Historic Monuments in Sierra Leone too have been damaged. Once upon a time, Sierra Leone was known as the "Athens of West Africa. The city is up-and-coming from a long-drawn-out civil war and is now seeking to protect and preserve the monuments that played a significant part in its history, including one of the most important sites related to slavery on the continent.

Famagusta Walled City in Cyprus had been featured in Shakespeare's Othello and beloved by all Shakespearean readers. It is now uncared for due to the continuing political deadlock over the island's autonomy.

 

Sites threatened by unchecked urban and industrial development

Historic sites all too often are subject to plans of short-term gains that result in long-term losses. New urbanization and industrial development repeatedly mean destruction of historic places. The 2008 Watch List includes a broad range of sites facing infringement or outright destruction.

Tara Hill in Ireland is considered a sacred landscape at the very heart of historic Ireland. It is now in jeopardy due to a highway planned to ease the travel from Dublin.

Rock art at Dampier of Australia, and Macusani-Corani of Peru are threatened by industrial development and will disappear in a couple of decades.

Machu Picchu in Peru had once been a cut-off sanctuary. It, one of the world's greatest treasures, is already endangered by unchecked and unmanaged tourism, and now further threatened by plans for even greater access to the site with no greater fortification.

St. Petersburg Skyline in Russia is called a hub of architectural triumph. It is now the proposed location for a huge Gazprom skyscraper that will perpetually change it.

Old Damascus in Syria is reputed as one of the oldest continually occupied urban centers in the world. Now its remarkable historic center is becoming deserted and demolished to make way for contemporary edifice.

Hasankeyf in Turkey is threatened by a controversial dam that will be used for half a century and will flood the site that was already ancient when Alexander the Great conquered the discovered world.

 

Sites threatened by global climate change

Climate change is a burning issue across the world. It has greatly affected heritage sites of different countries. The 2008 Watch List contains a number of sites threatened by global climate change.

Scott's Hut in Antarctica is a time capsule of early 20th-century exploration. Ironically, it is being engulfed by vastly increased snowfall thought to be a result of changes in the weather—changes the station was built to monitor.

Herschel Island in Canada is home to ancient Inuit sites and a historic whaling town at the edge of the Yukon that are being lost to the rising sea and melting permafrost in this fastest-warming part of the world.

Chinguetti Mosque in Mauritania is sited in one of Islam's seven holy cities and one of many sites in West Africa endangered by being eroded into desert.

Leh Old Town, Ladakh, India is a rare intact medieval city in the Himalayan region, now trying to balance development and modernization with sustainability as its traditional architecture faces changing weather patterns, including heavy rains, that it was not built to withstand.

The historic neighborhoods of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States have already been pummeled by Hurricane Katrina and are now struggling to restore homes while also preparing for future challenges posed by rising sea levels and the likelihood of stronger storms.

Though WMF has enlisted Sonargaon-Panam City, Bangladesh as one of the sites endangered by climate change, the city has mostly been damaged by the negligence of the authorities. Panam City had been the centre of business in medieval times and marked the crossroads of culture. According to WMF, this is a site "whose long-neglected and deteriorating architecture is increasingly threatened by flooding in this low-lying country, one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming".

Every two years, WMF publicizes the World Monuments Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. WMF watch list acts as an awakening call to action, drawing international public awareness to cultural heritage sites throughout the world threatened by disregard, vandalism, armed conflict, climate change, or natural disaster. Now through the Watch, WMF encourages community support and highlights the need for technical and financial resources to assist in the rescue of endangered sites. Since the launch of the Watch in 1996, more than 75% of the sites have been saved or are well on their way to being saved. We should thank WMF for its timely intervention. The watch list is brought together by an international panel of experts in archaeology, architecture, art history and preservation. We sincerely appeal to the concerned institutions, authorities and departments to protect, preserve, reform and restore the most significant but endangered culture and heritage sites across the world for our generations to come.

 

Mohammad Shahidul Islam is a Faculty of National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh

http://probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=3495

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