HERITAGE is a living and dynamic concept, interwoven with people and places; it is an expression of cultural diversity and of different modalities. It also encompasses tangible objects such as monuments and historic buildings, movable and immovable sculptures and also cultural landscapes in rural and urban contexts; national areas, ecosystems and biodiversity. It also consists of intangible attributes such as oral traditions and expressions, language, performing arts, social practices, cuisine, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and also traditional craftsmanship.
However, in today’s world, heritage sites face lots of challenges, especially the issue of climate change, which may include extreme heat, drought, melting gracias, volatile and extreme precipitation, cyclones, landslides and rising sea levels, among others. It may also include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and land exploitations due to mining activities.
In Nigeria, managers of heritage sites are not giving enough consideration to planning for disasters, especially in the area of management and protection. It must be said that there is not enough integration into national policies and budget. However, this has made heritage sites vulnerable to substantial damage and destruction in the event of a disaster, either natural disasters or those caused by human activities.
Climate change is already resulting in the loss and damage of cultural heritage sites; this loss is not limited to historical heritage sites alone, but also affecting communities and their cultural traditions.
However, there have been frequent reports of large scale disasters across heritage sites, which have caused widespread damage to heritage sites and the cities they are located.
Despite the increasing vulnerability of heritage sites to hazards, disaster risk reduction does not register as a priority area for management of these sites. In light of the increasing vulnerability of heritage sites to climate change and the absence of disaster risk reduction plans, coupled with extremely low levels of awareness among stakeholders and the public, it is critical to undertake efforts to advance heritage concerns in the wider agenda for disaster risk reduction and to raise awareness of disaster risk reduction among heritage managers and professionals.
Risk information is fundamental in efforts to reduce the vulnerability of heritage sites to disaster, the use of multi hazard risk assessments, forward-looking climate change projections and estimations of projects economic loses are all used to help disaster manager and heritage professionals design mitigation measures, set priorities and make the economic case for investing in heritage resilient.
In light of the disaster challenges, there is a need to develop disaster risk management strategy for heritage sites; this is of paramount importance within the overall planning and management. Laws and policies need to be formulated based on the specific characteristics of the heritage sites and nature of hazards within the sites and the community situated.
These laws and principles should take into consideration the principles of risk management, response to historic, aesthetic and other values of the heritage and at the same time address greater urban development challenges. This planning will requires skilled professionals, administrators and policymakers who are able to take into consideration various aspects of developing risk management plans in regards to heritage sites.
- Oyewole is of the Antiquity Protection Unit, National Museum, Osogbo.
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