Cambodia towns head for UNESCO list

SIHANOUKVILLE Three emerging tourist destinations in Cambodia could make it to the UNESCO World Heritage list in five years time.

A detailed plan outlining the steps required for Battambang, Kratie and Kampot to achieve World  Heritage status, under the tangible culture category should be approved by the Prime Minister’s office as early as this September.

Information on the World Heritage applications surfaced at the close of the Mekong Tourism Forum, held 5 to 7 July in Sihanoukville.

UNESCO associate expert urban heritage, Serge Reny, confirmed the initial planning process was now underway, but stressed the outcome would be determined by what the communities themselves recommended in each of the three towns.

A detailed dialogue with local communities is the first step to gain support and feedback in a complicated and lengthy process to file  three  applications with UNESCO.

The process would take at least five years before the towns were placed on a short list for final consideration.

Restoration work in the three towns would have to be completed as part of the application process within the five years.

“Without their feedback and commitment, there is the risk of the towns turning into museums with no relevance to today’s cultural environment. That is not the objective we want the towns to reflect a living culture,” Reny explained.

Reny led a post-Mekong Tourism Forum media trip to the old riverside town of Kampot and Kep a former early 1900s  beach resort, where the rich and royal partied in their weekend villas.

Kampot which was a provincial seat of the colonial French administration, lies a one-hour drive east from the coastal town of Sihanoukville.

Battambang lies west of Siem Reap on the main highway (5) from Phnom Penh to Poipet, the border town facing Aranyapathet in Thailand. It is best known for its Buddhist temples and historical and cultural links to Thailand.

Kratie, located on the banks of the Mekong River, northeast of Phnom Penh, is home to around 20 Irrawardy dolphins who live on a 190 km stretch of the river south of the border with Laos.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism international cooperation director, Thok Sokhom, earlier in the year, was quoted saying, the ministry had identified the three towns as potential sites for World Heritage status with UNESCO.

The country already has two World Heritage sites; Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear.

Each UNESCO World Heritage site must prove that it represents a masterpiece of human creative genius, exhibit important monumental arts, or natural landscapes, bear a unique testimony to a cultural tradition, or be an outstanding example of architecture, according to the selection criteria.

It will take at least five years for government officials to collate enough evidence to meet UNESCO’s selection for each of the three cities.

Reny said the five-year process with studies and restoration work at the three towns would cost an estimated USD50 million.

It would involve funding and expertise from the World Bank, USAID and Germany GIZ.

“The first challenge is to gain an understanding of the communities and their identity, while recognising the influence of the different eras such as 1953 to 1970 the independence era and how it impacted on art and architecture,” the UNESCO expert reiterated.

Battambang is Cambodia’s second most populous town and a popular tourist destination due its 40 ancient temples and former palaces, Buddhist shrines and a bamboo railway. It is also the capital of Battambang province.

Located in the northeast, on highway 7, Kratie is a small town on the banks of Mekong River. A stretch of river north of town is home to rare Irrawaddy dolphins. The dolphins are the town’s main tourist attraction, which is also the start of the Mekong Discovery Trail.

Kampot is a quiet riverside town, just a few km up river from the Gulf of Thailand. It is known for its famous black pepper, which is widely available in Cambodia and an export item. The town’s architecture is a mix of colonial dating back to the French and modern Cambodian sometimes known as Sihanouk or independence architecture.

World Heritage in Cambodia