Water & heritage

Water & Heritage ... tells the story of water heritage in all its diversity. It reveals the technical ingenuity that water heritage has always inspired, and it presents the challenges that this heritage faces, along with possible solutions. Reflecting the depth of cooperation between UNESCO and ICOMOS, this book was launched ... as a showcase of cooperation to increase dialogue on water heritage. - Irina Bokova (Director-General of UNESCO)

Water is vital for life, and its availability has been a concern for mankind throughout the ages. Its presence has always been ascertained in a variety of ways and the development of human society everywhere is connected with various forms of water management. Man also needed to manage water to find protection from its dangers and the need for that is increasing. In the coming decades, the impact of climate change is expected to intensify floods and droughts, affect groundwater resources, raise sea levels, increase pollution and enhance the frequency and magnitude of disasters. Societies around the world are challenged to adapt to these threats to ensure water security, economic prosperity and environmental and cultural sustainability.

This book deals with the heritage of water management and the use that was made of water, as well as the impact of water management on heritage. An example of the former may be an ancient irrigation system in the Philippines or in the Middle East that still functions today, while the latter may reflect the importance of maintaining groundwater levels for the preservation of organic remains on archaeological sites or of wooden piles underneath standing buildings. In either case the papers in this book reflect the dynamic nature of water, and hence the equally dynamic relation between water management and heritage.

This publication follows up on a Heritage and Water conference in Amsterdam, the first of its kind. Its main purpose is to credibly present the importance and value of heritage and historical experience for water and sustainable development, and vice versa, present the importance of water management for the protection of heritage. It presents evolving insights and concepts about Water and about Heritage from a variety of disciplines, policy and public perspectives illustrated with cases studies and aims to connect decision makers with experts such as engineers, archaeologists, historians, geographers, ecologist and landscape architects.

This book was initiated by ICOMOS Netherlands as a follow up to its 2013 international conference 'Protecting delta's, heritage helps'.

Contents:
Foreword
Irina Bokova (Director-General of UNESCO)

Preface
Jhr. Ir. Diederik Six (president ICOMOS Netherlands) and Drs. Erik Luijendijk (board member ICOMOS Netherlands)

Culture is the fourth pillar of sustainable development
Olivier Blond

Water and Heritage: conventions and connections
Henk P.J. van Schaik, Michael van der Valk and Willem Willems

Evolution of rainwater harvesting in urban areas through the millennia. A sustainable technology for increasing water availability
Benoît Haut, Xiao Yun Zheng, Larry Mays, Mooyoung Han, Cees Passchier, and Andreas N. Angelakis

Ancient Water Wisdom. Traditional water systems in India
Vasudha Pangare and Ganesh Pangare

Water and heritage in Angkor, Cambodia. The monuments, the ancient hydraulic network and their recent rehabilitation
Peou Hang

Water and World heritage
Anne Lemaistre

Beautiful tropical islands in the Caribbean Sea. Human responses to floods and droughts and the indigenous archaeological heritage of the Caribbean
Corinne L. Hofman and Menno L.P. Hoogland

Pacific Islands on the brink of submergence. Rising seas in an age o