HERITAGE AND RESILIENCE Heritage and Resilience: The Pakistan Perspective By Yasmeen Lari, SI CEO, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan My country today is confronted with enormous challenges: a vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy, a porous border with Afghanistan driving militancy and violence, Taliban and drone attacks. It is also predicted to be one of the most vulnerable due to climate change. Pakistan is a veritable treasure house of ancient heritage, sites and monuments spanning scores of centuries as home to 6,000 years old Indus Valley civilization of Mehergarh and Moenjodaro fame - its spectacular historic urban cores depositories of age old traditions, that also encompass Alexander and Ashoka’s Graceo-Buddhist legacy of Takht-i-Bahi and Taxila, the Sultanate Makli necropolis, scintillating Mughal jewels of the Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens, Ranjit Singh’s impressive legacy, striking Hindu temples, and imposing British colonial heritage. It is a rich reservoir of intangible heritage and age-old value system, a land of mysticism and Sufi saints, steeped in folklore and ancient wisdom, enriched by devotional music and ecstatic dance, spreading One Reality in the pursuit of peace, tolerance and pluralism, regardless of religious orientation. While ageless arabesques embellish its tangible heritage, the womenfolk weave magical patterns in their crafts taught to them by their mothers and their mothers before them, stimulated by oral history and time tested reserves of local knowledge they live in isolated rural habitat sequestered from shining technology-ridden urban centres. It is these women and their children that suffer the brunt of recurring disasters: 73,000 lives lost and 600,000 houses collapsed in the wake of Earthquake 2005 while 800,000 families are today without shelter due to the great floods of 2010, 2011 and 2012. The flood victims have largely remained without help – neither government nor international aid agencies including the UN Shelter Cluster being willing to consider the option of non-engineered structures drawn from vernacular heritage. Grateful that we are as a nation for the sympathy and aid received after Earthquake 2005, the extensive help provided by international banks and UN agencies, who carried out commendable work, but their approach to reconstruction remains questionable as its impact on climate change was entirely overlooked. Promoting steel prefabricated schools or use of burnt brick, cement and steel for shelters on a vast scale cause massive carbon emissions, and are also hugely disruptive interventions that destroy traditional living patterns and community cohesion, adding to greater vulnerability of communities. In the aftermath of 2010 Floods, can we justify building 1,000 steel emergency shelters by UN agencies in post conflict Swat which reportedly required hacking of 25,000 Poplar trees, or 100,000 shelters through the enforcement of burnt brick by the Shelter Cluster, which according to Magnus WolfeMurray, DFID Advisor, has caused 320,000 tons of carbon emissions and deforestation of 52,000 acres for 10 years. 1 of 3 Heritage Foundation of Pakistan HERITAGE AND RESILIENCE It is a source of pride that Pakistan Government has received several prestigious international awards for its post Earthquake reconstruction – and it was a remarkable feat to build over 400,000 expensive, unsustainable houses and a large number of ‘state of the art’ concrete and steel buildings – never mind that half of the school children from 5,000 collapsed schools are still in tents seven and a half years after the quake. Does it not appear as if international approbation has been mistakenly provided to unwarranted heritage destruction and the denigration of local seismic resistant vernacular, that aptly fitted both the lifestyle and the mountainous terrain? Has tacit approval not been provided to excessive carbon emissions from concrete and steel structures, where low carbon option was the norm? Is it because expensive engineered structures are profitable to intermediaries engaged in post disaster supplies, while non engineered low cost development makes them redundant due to meager returns. In the face of recurring disasters, and donor fatigue having set in, how do we build self reliance and resilience of communities except through technically improved low- cost options derived from vernacular heritage, enabling them to enforce DRR-driven methodologies themselves? In the disturbing scenario, there is a glimmer. Due to research and experimentation based on vernacular heritage, carried out by Heritage Foundation since 2005, adobe/mud/lime shelters designed with DRR-compliant technical interventions being built by UKAid/IOM are zero ecological footprint. 24,000 shelters are nearing completion, out of which some 5,000 were successfully tested during 2012 floods. Reportedly this is the largest unfired clay shelter program in the world, where not a single tree has been cut, and the pride of women constructing them is clearly manifest. These communities then are on the path to recovery. When we do not provide the masses with credible options, should we be surprised that they should escape from their flooded homes to seek refuge in world heritage sites such as the Makli Necropolis - a unique spiritual sanctuary that has suffered degradation and erosion due to increasingly aggressive weather. If the 20 million dollar UNESCO Mohenjodaro Fund established in 1973 has hardly touched the impoverished lives of surrounding villages, should we be surprised if our sites suffer degradation due to climate change as well as human pillaging. Where the World Heritage Center provides necessary advisories, to counteract accelerated decay due to the impact of climate change, should not heritage, especially World Heritage Sites now assume centre stage as being eligible for massive help to enforce DRR-driven heritage safeguarding that is linked with poverty alleviation for community’s cultural and economic resilience? Thus, greater emphasis is needed on low-cost methodologies such as age-old unfired clay that can provide protection with ease of reversibility, promoting livelihood and stake of marginalized communities. My appeal to UNISDR is to launch, in collaboration with UNESCO, Save World Heritage Sites campaigns, that could provide us with much needed international expertise, capacity building, training and livelihood programs. 2 of 3 Heritage Foundation of Pakistan HERITAGE AND RESILIENCE I bring you assurances from the custodians in Sindh and Sindh’s Trust Fund (EFT) that we will match all your efforts in order to save our priceless sites of Makli and Moenjodaro. Key Messages 1. Fund allocation is needed for research on each country’s vernacular heritage and traditional knowledge to form the basis for technically sound non- engineered structures, disaster preparedness, resilience and self reliance. 2. Carbon Impact Statements and Heritage Compatibility Statements should be mandatory requirement for post-disaster emergency/ reconstruction/ rehabilitation strategies. 3. Save World Heritage Sites campaigns by UNISDR/UNESCO and international/national public and private sector collaboration are required to ensure expert advice, capacity building and training; community participation and income generation with focus on women are essential elements for safety of sites. 3 of 3 Heritage Foundation of Pakistan .