Violent maritime spaces: Conservation and security in Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park,India

The militarisation of conservation involves the integration of conservation, security and counterinsurgency through violent and armed strategies, or ‘war, by conservation’. We describe a militarised conservation practice in which a marine protected area was established by the state and supported by international actors in a region of ongoing ethnic and military conflict as a case of conservation, by war. Conservation and security actors actively criminalise artisanal fishing communities in Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park in India. The harvest of sea cucumbers, marine species of commercial value historically traded between the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, was banned and has become the target of militarised action. When the Sri Lankan civil war broke out in 1983, sea cucumber trade turned into a security concern as the same sea routes were also being used for trafficking arms, ammunition, and other contraband. Tamil Nadu was geographically and logistically involved in the civil war due to ethnic ties. The Sri Lankan civil war and its social and political consequences on the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu due to ethnic ties is a fitting case of the nexus of conservation and security in a marine context. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with artisanal fishers and conservation and security actors, we show that violent political conflict provided the justification for securitisation of conservation. As the state focuses its conservation efforts on the marine protected area, commercial fisheries detrimental to fisheries and biodiversity conservation continue. Marine protected areas allow the state to achieve its security outcomes even as it fails to meet its conservation goals due to non-local drivers of declines in species populations. Trans-boundary marine environments are particularly difficult to govern due to the dynamic nature of the seascape. The materiality of the sea and the conservation-security nexus results in the creation of a violent maritime space.     

对文物保护单位保护规划的几点认识

保护规划是文物保护单位管理的基本手段之一。经过多年实践,文物保护单位保护规划逐渐形成了自己的特色。作为一种以文物保护为主要目的,以空间控制为主要手段,以文物综合利用展示为主要途径,致力于实现文物保护与区域经济社会发展相协调的专项规划,文物保护单位保护规划正在被行业所接受。然而,现阶段的文物保护单位保护规划仍然存在着对文物特性考虑不足,对现实发展回应不足,对实际工作指导不足等问题,亟需通过提升法律地位,完善规划体系,重视规划执行等措施来进一步完善,以更好地发挥应有的作用。     

日本高松冢古坟微生物病害及其防治研究概述

高松冢古坟是日本国宝级文化遗产,对其实施的原址保护一度是文物保护界的样板工程和国际典范,然而正是逐渐失控的微生物病害导致古坟解体搬迁至异地保护,复杂的人为介入手段是否有助于墓葬壁画的原址保护,值得更进一步探讨和反思。本研究回顾了高松冢古坟自发掘至今的保护历程,重点总结了侵害古坟石室及壁画微生物类群的调查分析及其防治措施的研究。通过对古坟病害微生物群落特征、环境因素变化及防治干预措施等方面相关文献资料的全面梳理和解读,客观评价了该遗址所取得的研究进展及经验教训,为我国乃至世界其他同类环境中壁画保护提供启示与借鉴。     

Disconnected Nature: The Scaling Up of African Wildlife Foundation and its Impacts on Biodiversity Conservation and Local Livelihoods

Abstract: Much has been written about the resource crisis facing the conservation movement if it is to scale up successfully to face what are perceived as global threats such as biodiversity loss, poverty and climate change. But what happens to conservation organizations when they successfully scale up, and what are the impacts on biodiversity and local people? This paper attempts to chart the successful scaling up of an international conservation NGO, the African Wildlife Foundation, and examines the implications of this on its performance in community‐based wildlife conservation in Tanzania.     

Beyond Eurocentrism? Heritage conservation and the politics of difference

There is a long-standing debate concerning the suitability of European or ‘western’ approaches to the conservation of cultural heritage in other parts of world. The Cultural Charter for Africa (1976), The Burra Charter (1979) and Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) are notable manifestations of such concerns. These debates are particularly vibrant in Asia today. This article highlights a number of charters, declarations and publications that have been conceived to recalibrate the international field of heritage governance in ways that address the perceived inadequacies of documents underpinning today’s global conservation movement, such as the 1964 Venice Charter. But as Venice has come to stand as a metonym for a ‘western’ conservation approach, intriguing questions arise concerning what is driving these assertions of geographic, national or civilisational difference in Asia. To address such questions, the article moves between a number of explanatory frameworks. It argues declarations about Asia’s culture, its landscapes, and its inherited pasts are, in fact, the combined manifestations of post-colonial subjectivities, a desire for prestige on the global stage of cultural heritage governance and the practical challenges of actually doing conservation in the region.     

The Rich,the Powerful and the Endangered: Conservation Elites,Networks and the Dominican Republic

Abstract: This paper explores conservation as an elite process in the Dominican Republic. It begins by showing how conservation at a global level is an elite process, driven by a small powerful elite. Looking at the Dominican Republic, it demonstrates how the extraordinary levels of protection have been achieved by a small network of well connected individuals, who have been able to shape conservation as they like, while limiting the involvement by the large international conservation NGOs who are considered so dominant throughout Latin America. Despite this, conservation both globally and in the Dominican Republic is shown to share similar political structures and the same lack of critique of capitalism or its environmental impacts.     

文化遗产保护学科建设现状与思考

以文化遗产保护为研究对象和学科体系的文化遗产保护学,具备学科建设的各种要素,但现有学科现状不能满足文化遗产保护事业发展需要,而明确学科地位,处理好其他相关学科与文化遗产保护学的关系,加强建设学科队伍和科研建设是文化遗产保护学科建设的基本途径。     

一类潜在的石质文物表面防护材料:仿生无机材料

仿生技术已经越来越广泛地应用于各个领域 ,包括生物医学材料、纳米材料、薄膜材料和多孔材料等等。在一些石质文物表面发现了一种以草酸钙为主要成分的致密的生物矿化膜 ,以及一种磷酸钙类薄膜 ,使人们看到了仿生技术在文物保护领域的应用前景。本文指出了目前石质文物保护材料的不足之处 ,介绍了一些仿生无机材料的优点和合成方法 ,探讨了这些新材料在文物保护方面应用的可能性。     

一种以社区为核心的开放型博物馆——国际生态博物馆40年探索

1971年8月,国际博物馆协会（ICoM）第九次大会在法国城市格林诺布举行期间,法国人乔治·亨利·里维埃（Georges Henri Riviere）和于格·戴瓦兰（Huguesde Varine）提出了一个新的博物馆名词“生态博物馆”（ECO—museum）。     

A Methodological Approach Towards Conservation

Abstract

Since conservation became a recognized discipline, professionals involved in conservation projects have tried to find the best criteria for their interventions. Often these criteria remain quite vague, based on the idea that every historic building has its own special conditions, which make its problems different from other buildings. This conviction, which is appropriate at one level, has serious consequences due to the lack of a consistent methodology. More than a lack of criteria, we might talk about a lack of 'habit' in identifying values in the Mediterranean region: the concept of values is much more widespread in Anglo-Saxon countries.

If we take a look at the history of conservation, there are a number of cases which are often used as models: for example, the Colosseum or the Arch of Titus in Rome, both interventions which are greatly admired and included in many conservation manuals. More recently there are projects which are widely accepted by the heritage conservation community as well: the paper explores the Palace of the Partal (Granada), the Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina), the theatre at Orange, and the Insula Orientalis I in Herculaneum. In this article, I suggest that there are constant elements within these conservation projects, reflecting typological, structural, constructional, functional, aesthetic, formal, historical, and symbolic values. These features represent a way of planning a conservation project and a critical methodology to judge the outcomes of the project in an objective manner. The methodology is qualitative rather than quantitative. All historic buildings have a set of values developed from their origins and throughout their history. These values can be analysed to extract the most important elements to be preserved. Analysing the values of our built heritage will allow us to create better decision-making processes.     

我国历史文化村镇保护的内容与方法研究

历史化村镇是我国遗产保护体系的重要组成部分,随着第一批中国历史化名镇(村)的命名公布。遗产保护工作又进入了一个崭新阶段。我国历史化村镇保护研究较国外起步较晚,相关研究也欠深入全面。导致在当前城镇化快速发展过程中,一些颇具价值特色的古村镇没有得到很好保护。本首先回顾了国内外历史小城镇、村落保护的演变发展,然后指出历史化村镇保护在价值特性方面,不同于历史化名城;在保护内容方面,要在以往偏重于物质化遗产保护的基础上。进一步加重非物质化遗产的保护;在保护方法方面,要综合运用历史学、地理学、建筑学、社会学、景观生态学等方法,才能达到较好的保护效果。     

新型文物封护保护材料氟橡胶耐紫外性能研究

封护措施对文物保护修复具有重要的意义,封护保护能有效阻隔环境因素(水分、氧气、空气污染物)对文物的影响,提高文物的耐腐蚀性。目前丙烯酸树脂B72和有机硅在文物封护领域应用较多,它们对于馆藏文物的保护有显著的效果,但它们的耐紫外性能不佳,不能很好地满足户外文物长期保护的要求。近年来氟碳材料由于具有优异的耐候性和耐老化性,已逐渐受到文物保护工作者的重视,本工作选择了一种新型氟碳材料F2311型氟橡胶作为研究对象,近年来已有将氟橡胶应用于金属文物、陶器、彩绘、壁画等文物封护保护的报道,但报道多侧重于应用,未见从理论方面验证或考察氟橡胶保护效果的研究。为了研究氟橡胶的耐老化性和在文物封护领域的适用性,本工作选用了丙烯酸树脂B72和2种有机硅涂料(分别为正硅酸乙酯和工业成品KSE-OH300)作为性能对比研究,通过紫外加速老化实验对它们进行了长期老化测试,利用红外、接触角、色差仪进行了结构和性能表征。结果表明:1)新型氟碳材料氟橡胶具有较优的紫外线耐受性,其在长期的紫外照射作用下颜色、结构和疏水性能均未发生明显变化,推测氟橡胶能够长期用于文物户外或户内封护保护,特别是针对处于复杂存储环境的文物保护有广阔的应用前景;2)B72在紫外照射下会发生氧化降解行为,红外证明这种降解反应在紫外照射初期就开始发生了,B72在紫外光下氧化降解导致封护膜发生黄变,在文物表面造成色差,推测B72不适用于户外文物的长期封护保护;3)2种有机硅类材料成膜后疏水性能一般,且在紫外辐射下结构趋于不稳定,外观也会发生黄变,推测这2种有机硅同样不适用于户外文物的长期封护保护。本工作通过评估材料的耐紫外性能来考察它们的耐老化性和在文物封护领域的适用性,研究结果表明新型氟碳材料氟橡胶与B72和2种有机硅相比,具有更优的紫外线耐受性,该考察结果可为文物封护材料的选择提供参考。     

Conservation as a social contract in a violent frontier: The case of (Anti-) poaching in Garamba National Park,eastern DR Congo

Protected areas located in areas of violent conflict are often conceived as spaces where the state has lost its control and parks are ‘dissolved’, to the point where poaching and violent extraction of resources run free. Our analysis of conservation in Garamba National Park, in eastern DRC, shows that forms of regulation of (anti-)poaching activities continue to exist within such spaces through the persistence of social contracts that bind different actors in and around the park around conservation. We show that these contracts have long histories and change substantially over time, and yet continue to function as reference points for populations and authorities with regards to (anti-) poaching activities, and the organization of social life in and around the park more broadly. Faced with insecurity, poverty and uncertainty, the population living close to Garamba National Park continues to refer to these social contracts, or seeks to devise new ones in search for predictability, livelihoods, security and the provision of basic social services. By focusing on the ‘contractual layer’ of conservation in a violent frontier, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the re-configuration of public authority in these spaces, and demonstrate the conceptual and empirical relevance of analysing social contracts for geographers. We do so by drawing a conceptual and empirical bridge between the literature that has conceived conservation as enclosures, and the literature that has focused more on the contractual dimension of conservation.     

Holding the wild in the seed: Place,escape and liminality at the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP), which conserves the seeds of wild plants, is the world's largest ex situ plant conservation project. Recourse to ex situ conservation, however, presents something of a paradox for the conservation of plants. Plant ecology often defies delineation into distinct units and is intricately rooted in place. ‘Plant-being’, therefore, has elicited attention within the ‘more-than-human’ turn for its entangled and relational nature. Yet, as the author considers here through reference to her research within the MSBP, in the context of seed conservation, survival for plant species is pursued precisely through escaping place and entanglement. By ‘thinking-with’ seed ecology, she proposes that a dialectic between plant and seed – and thus between entanglement and disentanglement – emerges, suggesting that rather than presenting a paradox, the practice of seed conservation might potentially foster a liminal, generative and experimental space within which new formations of human-plant relationships might be nurtured.     

In Situ Preservation of Ancient Floor Mosaics in Turkey

Abstract

As stated in the Burra Charter (1979) ‘A building or work should remain in its historical location. The moving of all or part of a building or work is unacceptable unless it is the sole means of ensuring its survival’. This statement has been neglected many times during rescue excavations in Turkey (e.g. Zeugma), whereas the destruction of ancient floor mosaics caused by lifting, especially when carried out by incompetent or inexperienced personnel at systematic archaeological excavations, has steered the authorities desire to preserve them in situ. However, due to the lack of conservation professionals and insufficient resources for conservation, it becomes a difficult issue to provide an effective preservation scheme for archaeological excavations. This paper aims to discuss this important issue in terms of the national legislation, preventative and interventive conservation approaches at various sites, exhibition and maintenance of mosaics, as well as the training of conservation technicians in Turkey.     

Rock Art Conservation and Tourism

Rock art conservation has developed hand-in-hand with the increased pace of tourism, yet the two activities tend to remain in opposing camps. Policies and guidelines have been developed for cultural heritage and cultural tourism and there is a widely accepted range of principles in place, but a theory of sustainable rock art tourism is only in its infancy. To mature, the discipline needs research into the interaction of key elements that affect the long-term conservation of frequently visited rock paintings and engravings in their original setting, as well as consideration of social and economic factors that drive tourism and the public interest in rock art.     

近现代工业遗产保护模式初探

工业遗产的形态多种多样,根据其不同的保护等级、城市发展及环境生态保护的需要,工业遗产的保护模式也有多种,不同模式都有其针对性强、效益明显的保护对象,但也各有利弊。以博物馆模式为例,其对工业遗产的保护与利用都比较到位,也易于建设,但因经济盈利空间有限,往往会造成政府财政的压力。此类问题影响着工业遗产保护的质量与效益,应该引起我们对工业遗产保护与再利用模式的深入思考。     

Ambivalent greenings,collateral conservation: Negotiating ecology in a United Nations buffer zone

This article focuses on the politics of environmental conservation in the UN Buffer Zone (BZ) that divides the island of Cyprus. On the one hand, it underscores the unintended conservation benefits which resulted after the violent depopulation of the BZ. On the other hand, it shows how the protracted conflict and its transformation into a post-violent one, has ‘softened up’ the BZ, and gave rise to new demands for human access and land development. The BZ as a spatial legacy of the Cyprus conflict thus illustrates the paradoxes of conservation practices in unintended ecological zones, which we term collateral conservation. It also underscores the modi vivendi negotiated among a broadened range of actors in pursuit of rival anthropocentric or ecological goals.     

Tianshui’s three treasures: water and soil conservation in wartime northwest China

ABSTRACT

In addition to examining how wartime imperatives shaped the agricultural research, demonstration, and extension programs undertaken by the Nationalist government’s Tianshui Water and Soil Conservation Experiment Area (the Experiment Area) after its founding in 1942, this article assesses the rural populace’s responses to these conservation measures. While the Experiment Area’s plans to construct terraces and ditches were not well suited to the socioeconomic and environmental conditions that existed in rural Gansu during the 1940s, its introduction of non-native tree and grass species to check water and soil loss met with an enthusiastic response from Tianshui’s populace. Water and soil conservation specialists aspired to rationalize human interactions with the environment as part of wartime efforts to develop the northwest, but to realize these goals they had to take socioecological realities in the region and the needs of rural residents into account. Wartime conservation’s environmental legacies, the article also shows, extended into the period after 1949.     

Revising the Burra Charter: Australia ICOMOS updates its guidelines for conservation practice

Abstract

This paper outlines the revisions made in 1999 to the Burra Charter, the core doctrine for heritage conservation in Australia that was first adopted by Australia ICOMOS in 1979. It examines the reasons why changes were needed, including broadened perceptions of heritage, new understandings of heritage significance, and recognition of the need for community input into conservation decisions about its heritage.

The review process, which took five years, changed its procedures halfway through after members of Australia ICOMOS roundly rejected a draft, while agreeing that a revision should still take place. Following a thorough consultative process with members, the text of the 1999 revision of the Charter was resoundingly endorsed (the text is included here as an Appendix).

The paper describes how the revised Charter differs from the previous text. The changes lie primarily in the recognition that heritage value, or significance, may be embodied in the uses, associations and meanings of a place, in addition to its physical fabric. Other key changes include incorporation of a flowchart explaining the conservation planning process; the seeking of community input; and the recognition that interpretation is an integral part of good heritage management practice.