Living with heritage: site monitoring and heritage values in Greater Angkor and the Angkor World Heritage Site, Cambodia

Abstract World Heritage conservation in developing countries is challenged by conflicting demands of preservation, economic development and social equity. Managing these demands requires monitoring of the dynamic interaction between cultural heritage, natural environment and contemporary society. Collaboration between research, management and governance is therefore necessary if we are to reconcile the competing demands of living with heritage. The Angkor World Heritage Site in Cambodia epitomizes the challenge and is a test case for the management of World Heritage in developing countries. A joint Cambodian and international programme is now developing collaboration policies, monitoring approaches and time-based, geographical information systems (GIS) for site management, in the context of the recent re-definition of the extent and the nature of Angkor by the surveys of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient and the Greater Angkor Project. The focus is on participatory planning, the role of mapping in engaging local communities in management processes and the relationship between diverse heritage values at the local, national and international scale. Keywords: AngkorWorld Heritageheritage managementGISmonitoring Acknowledgements Thanks to Martin King, Kath Sund, Rowena Butland, Damian Evans, Bess Moylan, Richard Murphy, Jo Gillespie, Senthilpavai Kasiannan, Georgina Lloyd and Nathan Wales for assistance with the preparation of this paper and to Mao Vibol and Christophe Pottier for their advice and assistance with the Living with Heritage project and this paper. Richard Mackay and Sharon Sullivan gave valuable advice about the paper and their contribution to the project has been much appreciated. The project is also grateful to Malin Blazejowski and the staff of Godden Mackay Logan for their participation. To the staff of APSARA who are on the Steering Committee and the Technical Committee of Living with Heritage – our thanks for your valuable contribution. Many thanks to H. E. Bun Narith for giving his permission for Khuon Khun-Neay and numerous staff members of APSARA to attend the July 2006 conference in Sydney to discuss issues concerning the heritage of Angkor. The Greater Angkor Project is funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant and Living with Heritage is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant.