Heritage conservation in Africa: The good, the bad, and the challenges

Conceptualising the Biblical View of Curse (Gen. 9:25-27) as a Metaphor for Natural Resource Curse in Zimbabwe: An Indigenous Knowledge Systems Perspective

“…IKS is a critical strategy towards fostering, implementing and strengthening African cultural heritage. 63 Arowolo affirms that civilisation can also be used in a normative way to indicate cultural superiority of one group or country over another. 64 Nevertheless, Mutema pleads for IKS methodologies that are not driven by blind assertion of African ideas and concepts in order to replace the Western terms without critical reflection 65 .…”

South Africa’s Golden Gate Highlands National Park management plan: Critical reflections

“…Elsewhere, heritage sites faced with similar threats include the iconic World Heritage Site of Mapungubwe which has been in the media for the last few years because of threats posed to its integrity by mining. 10 In Sudan, vast stretches of cultural landscape hosting valuable heritage are under threat from dam construction. 11 Undoubtedly, national heritage resources can be used as a foundation for poverty eradication, for example, heritage sites such as Goree Island in Senegal, Timbuktu in Mali and Robben Island in South Africa are famous for attracting large numbers of tourists; even human origins sites like the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa are now significant revenue generators.…”

“…11 Undoubtedly, national heritage resources can be used as a foundation for poverty eradication, for example, heritage sites such as Goree Island in Senegal, Timbuktu in Mali and Robben Island in South Africa are famous for attracting large numbers of tourists; even human origins sites like the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa are now significant revenue generators. 10 The GGHNP could also become an important revenue generator and possibly promote local economic development.…”

“…The development of detailed heritage inventories is essential because robust risk management frameworks require the establishment of up-to-date inventories and GIS databases for management purposes, in particular for saving heritage during disasters and conflict. 10 The current database has GPS coordinates for only a few sites and GIS maps showing the location of heritage sites in the park must be created.…”

The Management Of Cultural World Heritage Sites and Development In Africa

“…But it appears on the contrary that many African governments generally fail to support the nomination of cultural heritage sites to the WHL and the management of those that are proclaimed as World Heritage Sites. In reality, as observed by many researchers, the nomination and management of these sites in Africa is frequently ranked very low when compared with other government development projects (see Kusimba 1996;Schmidt 2006;Mahachi and Kamuhangire 2008;Chirikure 2013). As a consequence, many African cultural World Heritage Sites have been and continue to be threatened by various forms of economic development such as mining, construction of dams, highways and pipelines and the expansion of urban areas (Kankpeyeng and …”