UNESCO’s role in the rehabilitation of Bamiyan in Afghanistan

Abstract

This article is complementary to Claudio Margottini’s technical article “Instability and geotechnical problems of the Buddha niches and surrounding cliff in Bamiyan Valley, central Afghanistan”, published in Vol. 1, issue 1 of this journal. The present article provides background information on the framework of UNESCO’s strategies for the safeguarding of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage and, in particular, the Bamiyan site, the mechanisms for the development of operational projects, capacity building of national specialists, UNESCO’s partnerships and its fund-raising activities for the successful implementation of projects. The Division of Cultural Heritage is closely involved in ICL, therefore, it was natural to include UNESCO’s project for the safeguarding of the Bamiyan site in the framework of IPL. It was approved as IPL project C101-3 titled “The geo-morphological instability of the Buddha niches and surroundings cliffs in the Bamiyan Valley”.