Cultural Heritage and

Climate Change

Patcharawee TunprawatSpecialist in Cultural Heritage Management

SEAMEO-SPAFA

Activity 1

• Look at the museum object given to your group and discuss the following points:

1. What is it? 2. How is it important?3. How was it made?4. What and who are needed to create it?

Look Kuang, Lao Song Ethnic

Terracotta Buffalo, Dan Kwien

Wooden Man, India

Nang Kwak Amulet, Thailand

Roman Lamp

Wooden Warrior

Persian Manuscripts

Bayon Temple

Cultural Heritage

Components of Cultural Heritage:

• Materials / Cultural Expressions• Knowledge • Values • Communities

Cultural Heritage

• Tangible HeritageMonuments, historic buildings, archaeological sites, collections, archives

Cultural Heritage

• Intangible HeritageTraditional knowledge, wisdom, ways of life, rituals, cultural practices, performances

Living Heritage

Living Heritage

Herbal medicine doctor teaching students on the benefits of different herbs.

• Balanced Conditions

Happy Heritage

Traditional MaterialsTraditional KnowledgeTraditional Community

Suitable soil chemistry and biological components

Suitable and Stable Climatee.g. temperature, moisture, UV rays

• Imbalanced Conditions

Sad Heritage

4,500 year-old male skeleton at the Ban Natong prehistoric cave site in the North of Thailand

• Climate Change is directly affecting the world’s cultural heritage.

• Climate Change is acknowledged by world organizations dealing with heritage management e.g. UNESCO, ICOMOS, Getty Conservation Institute, and ICCROM as one of the most real threats that heritage is facing.

• SPAFA published a journal on Impact of the Cyclone Nargis on Cultural Heritage Monuments in Myanmar.

Impact of Climate Change on Cultural Heritage

Physical Impact• Direct Impact: Storm, flooding, erosion of

coastal areas, melting permafrost, landslides, extreme precipitations, desertification

• Indirect Impact: Moisture, vegetation, salt crystallization, pest, biological effects, scarcity of traditional materials

Flooding

Coastal Erosion

Salt Crystallization and Dissolution

Lichen

Termites/ Pest

100 places to rememberwww.100places.com

Ban Hueng Klang Village, Sekong, Lao PDRICCROM – SPAFA – Department of Heritage, Lao PDR

•In the 3rd lunar month of every year the Talieng hold a 7-day ceremony where prayer is held for all Talieng ancestors. Buffaloes are sacrificed in front of the communal village house.

•23,000 Talieng people live in southeastern Laos in remote mountainous areas of Sekong and Attapu provinces, near the border with Vietnam.

The Talieng (Trieng) Tribe

Communal House50-60 years oldBan Hueng Klang

River

One day after: Tropical Storm Ketsana, 2009

Documentation of the Village’s Settlement Pattern

What is left of the village.

Model of the Village Hall

Cultural Impact• Migration of traditional

communities• Adaptation causing loss

of traditional practices and changing ways of life

Change of environment(e.g. climate,

vegetation, food etc.)

Loss of Cultural Memory

• For the first time in history, climate change makes conservators rethink conservation.

• It’s not possible to conserve everything and to conserve forever.

• Continuity of knowledge and traditional communities

Kaewwanna Living Indigo Museum

• Learning about Moh Hom, a traditional way of life

Cooking local dishes

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Visiting old houses

Roleplaying and

Puppet-making

Interconnectedness