The Angkor Heritage Management Framework (Australian Funds-in-Trust and the Royal Government of Cambodia)

Time Frame: 2010-2014

Australian Fund-In-Trust: 981,157 USD

Cambodian Fund-In-Trust: 81,043 USD

Cambodian Unilateral Contribution: 600,000 USD

Total Project Cost: 1,662,200 USD

This project proposes the development of a comprehensive framework for Angkor heritage management, addressing community concerns as well as the conservation of monuments and archaeological sites and the surrounding cultural landscape, specifi­cally concentrating on protected zones 1 and 2. For the pilot projects, exceptions will be made for the sites of Beng Mealea situated in zone 3.

The project scope has been revised and adopted to focus on and to develop:

  1. A risk map which encompasses the structural, monumental, environmental and socio-cultural risks;
  2. A tourism management plan;
  3. Capacity building for APSARA pilot projects

In accordance with the recent resolutions of the World Heritage Committee and the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) for Angkor, this project will contribute to poverty alleviation in Siem Reap and promote the sustainable development of the province. The project will develop an exemplary methodology for the management of complex cul­tural sites featuring living communities and growing tourism. The resulting Heritage Management Framework may be used at other Cambodian sites that are facing similar management issues such as Preah Vihear.

By linking local communities with the opportunities created by tourism, the Heritage Management Framework project will develop a coherent set of policies and procedures to enable the Royal Government of Cambodia to conserve both the tangible and intangi­ble values of Angkor, improve governance and alleviate poverty. This framework will be based on an assessment of all the heritage attributes of Angkor—including longstanding social, religious, aesthetic, historic and scientific values—and the complex interrelation­ship between heritage, tourism, development and the local community. The project’s components will involve training for key RGC/APSARA personnel so as to facilitate skills development and ongoing implementation of management processes and to engage the community in heritage management.

The Heritage Management Framework will become an important and effective initiative to alleviate poverty in one of Cambodia’s neediest provinces by enabling the community to get involved and share the economic and cultural gains in the dynamic Angkor tour­ism sector. The implementation of the project started in September 2010.

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