by Sol Castagnino, Forus*
With the death toll close to 2,100 people and thousands more injured after a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti, the hard-hit nation now also faced the threat and consequences of Tropical Storm Grace. In the Amazon, there have already been over 250 major fires detected in the Amazon this year, burning an area roughly the size of Los Angeles, California. Across Asia, from Afghanistan to Myanmar, the moody monsoons are coupled with conflicts across the region – adding an extra layer of risk for communities. Whether we talk about natural catastrophes or war and human-made hazards, cultural and natural heritage across the globe are being hit hard. Overall, these collective crises have unveiled one major thing: that we need to step-up our game when it comes to dealing with disasters.
How disasters affect our heritage
For the past centuries, the main danger to heritage sites such as the Louvres, the Iguaçu Falls, Angkor or the Virunga National Park had been war, theft, time and decay, but in the past years we have been witnessing a dramatic shift. The scale of human conflicts has intensified and climate change is radically influencing ecosystems and natural phenomena. There are real and widespread threats to our natural and cultural heritage, yet are the existing legal and political frameworks effective enough to safeguard them?
The concept of disaster risk reduction was created in order to prepare and learn to manage natural emergencies and anthropogenic disasters. This approach aims to “minimize the vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a society, to avoid or to limit the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development”. In a world where calamities and crises are mainly understood as threats to development in their humanitarian and economic consequences, it is important to highlight how they also affect local and global realities through their impact on cultural and natural heritage.
“There needs to be a clear and efficient international framework to protect cultural and natural heritage in certain situations when there is a deliberate policy of destruction as we have seen in Brazil under the current administration. Beyond the defence of the environment and the focus on climate change, we need to question what it means to have international rules to protect the natural assets of humanity,” Iara Pietricovsky, Forus’ Chair from the civil society platform Abong (Brazil), explains.
In the past weeks, more than 75% of the fires that have affected the Amazon blazed in Brazil, in areas where trees have been cut to make way for agriculture, despite a June 27 ban on unauthorized outdoor fires by the Brazilian government, according to a recent study.
“With the heavy consequences from deforestation and mining leading to massive forest fires, the Amazonian forest is in a situation of no return. This crisis affects entire ecosystems and natural resources but also leads to the genocide of indigenous populations who are losing both their culture and their homes.”
Increasing threats
Cultural and natural heritage hold a part of our identities. They are the legacies our ancestors left us, and the legacy we will pass down to future generations. Cultural heritage such as monuments, traditions, language and art helps communities define themselves, find their essence or practice their faith. They also offer a sense of belonging, and of collective and personal pride.
Not only is cultural and natural heritage a key element of human identification and development, it is also an essential economic aspect in countries and communities that rely on tourism and thus preservation as their main source of income. Sadly, as vital as heritage is, it is constantly facing threats.
The loss of cultural heritage has been used as a “weapon against local populations” as observed in the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 by the Taliban and the annihilation by ISIS of several sites in Iraq and Syria in 2015.
Cultural and natural heritage are also at risk when it comes to natural disasters as seen in the recent Haiti earthquake. Similarly, in 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal and destroyed key cultural buildings in the Kathmandu valley including priceless museums and the famous Dharahara tower. These are a few examples amongst countless others of the existing threats of rising oceans, storms, hurricanes, deforestation, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and armed conflicts, as they continue to grow.
Civil society and the protection of heritage
When a disaster hits, civil society organisations are often at the forefront of relief and emergency efforts. Being closer to communities and relying on local knowledge, civil society has access to territories that are deemed ‘unsafe’ for international organizations and have often been key actors in supplying humanitarian aid as recently witnessed during the Nyiragongo eruption in The Democratic Republic of Congo that has displaced over 20,000 people.
In Honduras, we find a similar pattern, with civil society organisations organising local planning initiatives to deal with disasters. Due to its geographical position and the effects of climate change, the country has been subject to intensifying natural disasters. In 2020, it was struck by two consecutive hurricanes. In this challenging context, civil society organisations act as a bridge between government efforts and provide coverage and basic needs at the national level.
“Honduras is in a very critical situation. Our role has been to organize communities, to accompany them in terms of climate change adaptation. This is irreversible, we have no choice but to adapt, so we are organizing, we are supporting grassroots and local organizations, working on the front lines,” explains José Ramon Avila, director of ASONOG, the national platform of civil society organisations in Honduras.
Forus international, a global network of civil society organisations, has developed a toolkit and microsite on disaster risk reduction in order to help understand and implement the framework better. Produced with the support of Fondation de France, in collaboration with the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) and Save the Children Switzerland, the toolkit looks at ways to strengthen the capacities of national NGO platforms in crisis and post-emergency situations. With case studies and testimonies from over 10 countries, it reunites the voices of civil society dealing with conflicts, peace processes, natural calamities and “everyday disasters”.
Disaster risk reduction must become a political and social priority of governments
Disaster risk reduction was not initially created and understood as a way to protect cultural and natural heritage. UNESCO was tasked with this mission and has drafted international Conventions for this very purpose since its creation in 1945. Sadly, a majority of governments have yet to effectively implement UNESCO conventions in order to preserve and protect their natural and cultural heritage.
In the words of the independent expert in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Farida Shaheed: “Cultural rights have often been described as underdeveloped in comparison to other human rights. Insufficient attention has led to them sometimes being viewed as rights of lesser priority”.
Disaster risk reduction helps in the protection of the identity, the essence and the history of entire communities that find comfort and religious, social or historical meaning in their own cultural and natural heritage. With the support of civil society organisations, heritage expertise as well as local disaster preparedness, we can prevent and anticipate crisis and hazards. Disaster risk reduction must become a political and social priority of governments. In the name of security for people and the planet, we need to explore a holistic approach in order to build resilient communities and support them in harnessing the power of their heritage.
For more information please visit the DRR micro-site and toolkit with case studies from all over the globe. Available in English, French and Spanish.
* Forus, previously known as the International Forum of National NGO Platforms (IFP/FIP), is a vibrant global network of National NGO Platforms and Regional Coalitions making a major collective contribution to development, peace, democracy, sustainability and justice. Through active participation, we influence local and global negotiations while contributing to build a more united international community. Our goal is to promote a fair and sustainable world, where the most vulnerable populations have a voice, human rights are respected and inequalities and injustice are combatted.
