Author of 'Disappearing World' says choosing tours wisely can help endangered sites
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008
BY ELLEN CREAGER
Detroit Free Press
It's too late to see the great Buddhas of Afghanistan.
The prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux, France, are fading away.
Even the Galapagos Islands are changing.
You can't blame tourists for all of that, but we certainly have played our part. Even if we tiptoe, even if we're careful, we change the very pristine place we came to see.
But what can a tourist do? What's a curious traveler's best response if he or she wants to see the world -- and do no harm?
''Be selective about choosing trips, or get involved with trips that help clean up or care for these sites,'' says Alonzo Addison, author of the new Disappearing World: 101 of the Earth's Most Extraordinary and Endangered Places (Harper Collins, $34.95).
Addison, an architect and engineer who's also an expert in computer imaging of ancient places, is involved in preservation efforts around the world. He's a consultant to UNESCO, the United Nations agency that has designated 851 cultural and natural places as World Heritage sites.
Addison profiles 101 of these sites as particularly threatened -- some by tourism, yes, but others by conflict, natural disasters, lack of funding, theft, pollution or overdevelopment. And they are at risk of disappearing within our lifetimes.
Addison has led restoration projects in Cambodia, Myanmar, Peru, Egypt, Belize and Bhutan. But even he hasn't seen all the fragile places in his book. And he might never get to them all.
''Very few people have traveled the whole World Heritage list,'' says the author when we caught up with him by phone at his San Francisco home. ``I've done lots.''
Q: Cambodia's Angkor Wat was restored in the last 25 years. Now it's a very popular tourist attraction. It seems like a success story.
A: It's this double-edged sword. A huge international campaign after the Cambodian conflict stabilized the monuments. Now, everyone wants to see it, and that brings developers, and that brings hotels. The growth of those luxury hotels is a problem, but even worse is the hidden danger.
Those hotels are pumping out groundwater that is the underpinning for Angkor Wat. Things are coming apart from the draining of the marshy site.
The groundwater from your hotel is sinking the sight you came to see.
Q: So should tourists feel guilty about wanting to see Angkor Wat and other sites? Should we just stay home?
A: You can't say that. It is a fine line.
Q: Aren't World Heritage sites some of the most scenic places on the planet?
A: World Heritage sites, by the UNESCO definition, are ''places of outstanding universal value'' -- in essence, the wonders of the world. And the wonders can be natural or built.
Q: Some sites you list in the book are threatened by overdevelopment, such as Katmandu, Nepal, or by theft -- people stealing pieces of the Great Wall of China. But some, you warn, are being loved to death -- places like Machu Picchu; Petra, Jordan, and Stonehenge. You say visitors even helped introduce invasive species to the Galapagos Islands.
A: Some sites can't handle the load they are receiving. The Galapagos is one. Some 30,000-plus people now live on Darwin's islands to support the tourism industry. If we didn't go there with tourists, they wouldn't be there. We are having an impact on the species and island.
I do want to point out that tourism there is well-managed. Yet, so many want to go that it's become a huge flow of people. All it takes is one stray blackberry seed in the cuff of your pants. And it's happened. Blackberries are one of the invasive species. They make thickets that squeeze out flightless birds.
Q: So . . . will the Galapagos Islands ban tourists?
A: No government wants to say no to tourists. In general, what we as tourists can do is to be more aware. If you really know how critical your actions are in the Galapagos, you'll be more careful. If you go to Uluru (Ayers Rock, Australia) and realize that every time you stand in the shower you are using 8,000-year-old water from an irreplaceable aquifer, you might pause a bit.
Q: One place I always wanted to see was the giant sixth-century Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. But they were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. What's happened since?
A: After the destruction, UNESCO organized a massive international campaign. They sent in teams, put bolts in the entire rock face and some wire netting. The entire mountain was coming down because of the blasts. Although the Buddhas were destroyed, there are still a fantastic series of little steps and grottos, and some of them have quite beautiful paintings.
Q: Will someone rebuild?
A: There were several proposals. A guy in Switzerland wanted to rebuild the Buddhas out of fiberglass or concrete. But the government took the right approach not to do it and leave the (niches) empty. In a way, it's more powerful now as a testament to our own stupidity.
Q: Your book has incredible photographs. It makes me want to visit all these places before they are gone. That may be the opposite of your intent.
A: I hope it raises awareness, to make people understand the beauty and all the wonders we have that need our joint efforts to make sure they last for the next generation.
(A portion of book proceeds will go to World Heritage site clean-ups. For a list of all World Heritage sites, see whc.unesco.org/en/list.)
THREATENED PLACES
• Tower of London, England: The once mighty tower looks like a shrimp next to huge new skyscrapers next door (one is dubbed ''the gherkin'' for its pickle shape). More skyscrapers are on the way, visually diminishing the historic landmark.
• Katmandu, Nepal: The exotic spot's population is now five times what it was in 1969, creating a teeming city and pollution that blocks the mountain views.
• Ha Long Bay, Vietnam: The pristine area on the Gulf of Tonkin is being quickly populated beyond what the sanitation system can handle; 3 million tourists annually are expected by 2010.
• City Center, Prague, Czech Republic: Architecture that dates from the 11th-18th centuries was damaged by a great flood in 2002; officials worry that the Vltava River could overflow again as river levels in Europe drift higher due to changing weather.
• Cave paintings in Lascaux, France: You can't blame tourists for this one, but fungus and bacteria are destroying the ancient paintings; about 150 have faded away since 2001.
• Petra, Jordan: The hidden city went from having about 40,000 visitors a year in 1990 to 500,000 in 2000, increasing vendors, graffiti and damage. In addition, the grand but soft sandstone structures continue to wear away due to weather.
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia: At the site of Ayers Rock, water for tourists pumped from the only aquifer is using up precious resources. Invasive species have chomped much of the native vegetation in the park.
(Source: Alonzo Addison, Disappearing World)
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