HeritageWatch supports the creation of sustainable, income-generating activities at threatened sites. One such site is the ancient Khmer capital of Koh Ker. Built in the 10th century, Koh Ker is home to dozens of magnificent temples and is now poised to become a major tourist destination. The people of Koh Ker are among the poorest in Cambodia. HeritageWatch will promote the protection of the temple complex while providing a sustainable development strategy that ensures the people of Koh Ker will directly benefit from its development. The project will see the people trained in small business management, craft production, land rights, English language and tourism. They will also receive mobile retailing carts and ox carts, retro-fitted to carry tourists. Training in heritage protection and conservation will also be provided and assistance given to organize community patrols to protect the temples from looting and report thefts.
Through the project, Heritage Watch is promoting the protection of the temple complex while providing a sustainable development strategy that ensures the people of Koh Ker will directly benefit from its development. These people are among the poorest in Cambodia, barely eking out a living through subsistence farming and forest scavenging. Furthermore. This poverty has naturally exacerbated looting at Koh Ker, which reached a height in the early 1990s. However, much of this remarkable site has survived intact, and its future protection hinges on the local community being able to benefit from the coming economic boom, and associating their economic security with the preservation of the temple complex.
Over the course of a year, Heritage Watch will provide training in heritage protection and conservation for the local community, helping them to organize and equip community patrols to protect the temples from looting and report any looting incidents that should take place. Heritage Watch has already established a baseline survey of past looting at the temples, and using this, recent thefts can easily be detected. These patrols will also be provided with training in basic environmental management, and can pick up litter, empty trash bins, etc. The training will reinforce the importance of the temples as an asset that must be protected if the local community is to prosper.
Training in tourism at a basic level will also be provided, so that the villagers may establish sustainable businesses near the temples—such as refreshment stands and ox-cart tours of the site. Village women and the disabled will be trained, thus providing opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged groups in the community. The sales stalls will be controlled by a committee to minimize the possibility of community disputes. Ideally, families would share the responsibility for the operation of the stall and share in its profits. Volunteers for heritage patrols would be sought. The committee would ensure patrols took place as this is a condition of support from HeritageWatch. The provision of uniforms and equipment will give the community a sense of purpose and pride in the site.
Income generated by the villagers through the sale of refreshments, ox-cart rides, and other products will make this project self-sustaining, and will thus greatly benefit not only the people of Koh Ker village, but will ensure that the temples of Koh Ker are understood to be a better economic opportunity when preserved. Perhaps most importantly, this project will illustrate to the entirety of Cambodia that protecting heritage is more financially advantageous than destroying it.
Phnom Penh is home to many unique architectural structures that are increasingly under threat as the city develops. HeritageWatch has established a campaign whereby important structures are recognized with an explanatory, commemorative plaque listing the date of construction, and historical importance. The buildings will be included in a ‘Heritage Cyclo Tour’ whereby visitors and residents to Phnom Penh may tour historic sites. It is hoped that the value of these buildings will be recognized through this program and encourage their preservation. Heritage Watch is currently seeking donors to support this initiative.
HeritageWatch is working in conjunction with Mouth to Source and the Foreign Correspondents Club to produce a 360-degree QuickTime VR CD of the temples. These 360-degree panoramas of every monument in the Angkor park are 'zoomable' and photographed by a professional photographer. The product is boxed with a 24 page booklet.
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