Cultural Heritage Management: A Global Perspective

18. Cultural Heritage and the Development Process: Policies and Performance Standards of the World Bank Group

18 Cultural Heritage and the Development Process Policies and Performance Standards of the World Bank Group Arlene K. Fleming and Ian L. Campbell Public and private sector infrastructure development throughout the world is a multi-trillion dollar industry. The acceleration in pace, volume, and scale of construction projects requires increased attention and rapid action by cultural heritage proponents. In the face of this challenge, individuals, organizations, and institutions responsible for cultural heritage must evolve from mere custodians of the past to become an integral part of the modern construct for socioeconomic development and environmental management. Development in an Environmental Context The nexus of development and environment was acknowledged and elaborated in pioneering legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), created by the U. S. Congress in 1969 (see Environment, Health and Safety Online 1969). Cultural heritage is included in NEPA’s definition of environment, along with biophysical and social factors. The act requires assessments of environmental impacts to be completed prior to authorization of construction projects undertaken on land owned by the U.S. government or financed with government funds. This involves collection and analysis of data by a multidisciplinary team as well as documented consultation with the public and other relevant stakeholders (see also Davis, this volume). The concepts and provisions of NEPA have spread throughout the world. The relationship between environmental protection and economic development received international attention during the 1980s through the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development (also known as the Brundtland Commission), which promoted the concept of a holistic approach to the management of the planetary environment. The commission’s report to the United Nations in 1987, entitled Our Common Future, spoke of an environmental “Global Commons,” comprising a whole that is larger than the sum of the parts (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). It 244 Arlene K. Fleming and Ian L. Campbell advocated sustainable development wherein human activities are undertaken in harmony with the natural environment. Cultural Heritage in Environmental Impact Assessment The process of environmental impact assessment (EIA) has gained widespread use as a method for achieving a balance between development and environmental protection at the individual project level. It is designed to determine the geographical area likely to be affected by a project; to identify the biophysical, social, and cultural features within the area; and to assess a proposed project’s impact. The EIA investigation thus involves a variety of specialized disciplines and skills in a spatial approach, as a multidisciplinary endeavor to collect, organize , and analyze, as comprehensively as possible, information on human and natural conditions in the designated impact area. A variety of technical tools are helpful in this spatial analysis, including geographic positioning systems (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing (RS), as well as a host of other rapidly developing advances in information collection, organization, management, display, and analysis. Detailed maps, surveys, and inventories of spatially defined areas also are important resources. Against this baseline, using various analytical techniques, including computer-based models in order to predict possible impacts such as air pollution and hydrological changes, the anticipated effects of a development project are determined. Steps are then taken in project design and implementation to avoid or mitigate any potentially negative effects. During the past three decades, EIA has become established in virtually every country of the world. It is required by national laws and regulations, and adopted as a quid pro quo for investment by multilateral and bilateral financing agencies. Harking back to NEPA, and similar legislation in other industrially developed countries, EIA practice and legal provisions usually include cultural heritage together with biophysical and social factors. However, since the advent of EIA in most developing and transition1 countries was enabled by natural science professionals and newly formed governmental agencies for environmental protection, individuals and institutions responsible for cultural heritage were generally not consulted or included. As a result, in many countries, there is a knowledge and communication gap between environmental and cultural heritage authorities. Hence, the cultural heritage component of EIA often has been treated in a cursory fashion, or even neglected. The World Bank Group Since its creation to enable reconstruction following World War II, the World Bank has expanded to become a significant source of financial and technical as- Policies and Performance Standards of the World Bank Group 245 sistance to the world’s developing and transition countries. At present, the World Bank Group has 184...