Promoting the Protection of Heritage Sites in Nepal's Western Terai in the Face of Accelerated Development (HN)

朝圣是增长最快的旅游动机，每年估计有6亿人次的“精神之旅”，亚洲开发银行(ADB)预测，到2020年，前往南亚的佛教朝圣人数将从每年的400万人次增加到2200万人次。它还估计，到2020年，前往尼泊尔西部特莱的兰毗尼朝圣的人数将从80万人增加到500万人。兰毗尼是佛陀的出生地。亚洲开发银行意识到加强佛教朝圣活动所带来的经济利益，并意识到缓解Terai地区严重贫困的潜力，已投资数百万美元于一个“旅游基础设施发展项目”。由于蓝毗尼的存在，亚行在Terai的投资包括在Bhairahawa轻型飞机跑道和蓝毗尼之间的全天候道路，以及1亿美元将Bhairahawa升级为拥有3000米长跑道的国际机场。虽然高速公路投资缩短了农民将农产品运往市场的路程，但它靠近印度边境的存在吸引了工业投资，在蓝毗尼附近建立了25家水泥和面条工厂。除了污染地下水，世界自然保护联盟最近的研究发现，联合国教科文组织世界遗产蓝毗尼的古迹也因空气污染而受损。投机性的土地收购沿道路和靠近遗产遗址推高了一些地区的地价，而在另一些地区，拟议的遗产缓冲区正在无意中阻止销售。后者还阻止居民通过抵押贷款筹集紧急情况和教育资金。尽管发展迅速，但许多考古遗址仍需测绘和保护，联合国教科文组织和东京大学的一项调查表明，卡皮尔巴斯图地区136个已知遗址中有97个因扩大耕作和定居而遭到破坏，这两者都是由加速发展推动的。联合国教科文组织的调查还发现，Terai的一些社区与佛教朝圣地点的社会或经济联系很弱，因为大部分投资都集中在这些地点。对于规模庞大的穆斯林社区来说尤其如此，他们面临着疏远的风险。此外，联合国教科文组织的调查发现，蓝毗尼的大多数国际佛教朝圣者是一日游游客，他们在返回印度之前越过边境参观景点。调查还发现，他们在尼泊尔的消费很少，因为盒装午餐、车辆甚至导游都不是尼泊尔人。虽然个别指出了这些不同的挑战和机会，但居民、利益攸关方和政策制定者尚未对这些不同的挑战和机会进行集体讨论和评估。鉴于这一动态形势，教科文组织以及日本和尼泊尔政府发起了‘加强对佛祖诞生地蓝毗尼的保护和管理项目’，以便在遗址受到不可逆转的不利影响之前保护、养护和管理重点考古遗址。在第一阶段(2011-2014年)的蓝毗尼和第二阶段(2014-2017年)的Tilauarakot(被许多人认定为佛陀童年的故乡)，项目团队的达勒姆大学考古学家和规划师现在认识到，有必要促进制定一种商定的多学科和合作的方法来保护和保存遗址，并评估当代佛教朝圣对这些遗址的积极和消极的社会和经济影响。通过扩大达勒姆教科文组织教席和项目团队之间的伙伴关系，与管理人员、居民、朝圣者和利益攸关方，无论是佛教还是非佛教，我们寻求减少对遗产遗址的破坏和不可逆转的修改，并通过开发和传播试行工具包和方法来减少朝圣的负面影响。

Pilgrimage is the fastest growing motivation for travel with an estimated 600 million 'spiritual voyages' undertaken each year and Asia Development Bank (ADB) predicts that Buddhist pilgrimage to South Asia will reach an annual figure of 22 million by 2020 from four million. It has also estimated that pilgrim numbers visiting Lumbini in Nepal's western Terai, the birthplace of Buddha, will expand from 800,000 to five million by 2020. Aware of economic benefits offered by enhancing Buddhist pilgrimage circuits and the potential to alleviate acute poverty within the Terai, ADB has invested millions of dollars in a 'Tourism Infrastructure Development Project'. On account of the presence of Lumbini, ADB investment in the Terai has included all-weather roads between the light aircraft landing strip at Bhairahawa and Lumbini as well as 100 million dollars upgrading Bhairahawa to the status of an international airport with a 3000 metre long runway.Whilst highway investment has improved journey times for farmers taking produce to market, its presence close to the Indian border has attracted industrial investment in the form of 25 cement and noodle factories near Lumbini. In addition to polluting ground water, recent studies by IUCN have identified that monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lumbini have been damaged by airborne pollution. Speculative land acquisitions along roads and close to heritage sites have driven up land prices in some areas whilst proposed heritage buffer zones in others are inadvertently preventing sales. The latter has also prevented residents from raising of funds for emergencies and education through mortgages. In spite of this rapid development, many archaeological sites are still to be mapped and protected and a survey by UNESCO and Tokyo University has suggested that 97 of 136 known sites in Kapilbastu District have been damaged by the expansion of cultivation and settlement, both driven by accelerated development. UNESCO surveys have also identified that some of the Terai's communities have weak, if any, social or economic ties to the Buddhist pilgrimage sites where much of the investment is focused. This is particularly true of the sizable Muslim community, running the risk of alienation. Additionally, UNESCO surveys have found that the majority of international Buddhist pilgrims at Lumbini are day visitors, coming across the border to visit sites before returning to India. The also survey identified that their spend within Nepal is minimal as packed lunches, vehicles and even guides are not Nepali. Whilst individually noted, these disparate challenges and opportunities have not been collectively discussed and evaluated by residents, stakeholders and policy makers. In view of this dynamic situation, UNESCO and the Governments of Japan and Nepal launched the 'Strengthening the Conservation and Management of Lumbini, the Birthplace of Lord Buddha Project' to protect, conserve and manage key archaeological sites before sites were irreversibly adversely affected. Focused on Lumbini in Phase I (2011-2014) and Tilauarakot (identified by many as the Buddha's childhood home) in Phase II (2014-2017), the team of Durham University archaeologists and planners from the project team now recognise the need to promote the development of an agreed multidisciplinary and collaborative approach for the protection and preservation of heritage sites and the evaluation of the positive and negative social and economic impacts of contemporary Buddhist pilgrimage at them. By expanding the partnerships between Durham's UNESCO Chair and the project team to interface with managers, residents, pilgrims and stakeholders, whether Buddhist or non-Buddhist, we seek to reduce the destruction and irreversible modification of heritage sites and identify and promote benefits, and reduce negative impacts of pilgrimage through the development and dissemination of pilot toolkits and methodologies.