Zawaya

The government, UN and volunteers to conserve historic sites and neighborhoods

By: Adel Rochdy

The conservation of historical sites, neighborhoods and monuments should be included in the list of duties taken in charge by the State, and among the obligations of citizens just like tax payment.

Vestiges, sites, and ancient neighborhoods that are part of the memory of the country, people and every citizen, should not be left to fade away under pain of committing a moral crime against the collective memory of the peoples.

Today, for objective reasons (climate conditions or mere erosion) or subjective ones (human negligence), villages, neighborhoods, and sites of rare and singular beauty are endangered in all Maghreb countries.

To preserve them, we should first ensure a collective awareness about the need and obligation to maintain and preserve these priceless assets.

Several solutions are possible, but would they be sufficient to initiate a process of sustainable heritage maintenance and management?

First comes governmental intervention. Public authorities in the Arab Maghreb have always devoted a portion of the budget allocated for culture to restoration, maintenance and preservation of national heritage. Some of them, however, know that this budget is never enough.

Given the importance of the funds needed to preserve and maintain historical sites, the Maghreb States have called for the UN support, within the framework of international solidarity and the safeguarding of world heritage.

Substantial funds were invested in the restoration and maintenance of historical sites in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia with relative success.

However, neither the State nor the UN agencies can intervene everywhere, and the public funding has been insufficient.

Civil society can also contribute to this project that is both artistic and humanist.

In Western countries, officials from the ministries of culture and education, and even from other departments, prompt students to volunteer – mainly during school holidays – and perform restoration works. That is how many neglected or threatened castles have been restored.

Many students are thus supported by the town hall services (they are offered room and board, and nothing more) to perform minor works under the supervision of experts on historical sites (painting, cleaning, staining, mucking out, clearing out, etc.).

Volunteering is not only for students, since associations are often created for this purpose.

This approach should be encouraged in Maghreb countries, where the defense of historical heritage is worth as much as – or even more than – cheering in stadiums to support the national soccer team in a paid performance.

As a reminder, historical neighborhoods, sites, and monuments are often used for tourism purposes. It would be wise to devote the money generated from the paid visits of these places to maintenance and conservation works.