Risk Management at Heritage Sites: a case study of the Petra World Heritage Site

This publication and development of a risk management methodology is the result of the Risk Mapping Project in Petra, a project of the UNESCO Amman Office in partnership with the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC) at the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven in Belgium and in cooperation with the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority (PDTRA) and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoA). This collaborative project started in February 2011 for a period of fifteen months in response to the increasing risks for loss of heritage values at the site and a need for their assessment and proposing responses to reduce their impact. Petra Archaeological Park (PAP), the most significant World Heritage site in Jordan, with its unique landscape, monuments and natural gorges, is a fragile property. Further to its inherent fragile characteristics, Petra is endangered by natural and human-made threats and impacts. Lack of an implemented management plan coupled with no clear property boundaries and an absence of buffer zones as recommended by the World Heritage Committee, and weak visitor management strategies, result in major gaps in the management of the property and increasing risks to the site. Accordingly, risk assessment and research to better address the challenges of the management of Petra World Heritage site have been identified as the most appropriate tools for mitigation of risks and protection of the values of the property. This publication examines a systematic approach in order to identify threats, their causes, and understand and assess their effects, and proposes ways to choose responses and mitigation strategies in order to reduce the impact of threats.nrpages: 168status: publishe