Keynote address by Dr Pisit Charoenwongsa, Director, SEAMEO SPAFA
Conservation and its Aftermath - The Wise Use of Heritage Resources
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link to SEAMEO-SPAFA web-site

As the flow of financial and economic resources into heritage conservation efforts become restricted or erratic, the need to examine the issue of long-term sustainbility in the field of heritage conservation becomes all the more pressing. One viable solution, proposed by Dr Pisit, is to build community relevance and engagement:

"Community-based management, which involves a wide range of stakeholders, is perhaps the only key to achieve success in the hardly-popular effort of "conservation," which to most people denotes unfortunately something that is static or resistant to change. It is imperative to expand the stage of conservation that now seemed to have assumed a specific timeframe of commencement-action-cessation. To do this, the practice of conservation must be sustained beyond the 'project' to become entrenched as a philosophy, a cultural habit and a way of life."

This shift in outlook and mindset is also necessary in moderating the sometime over-zealous tendency of heritage conservation work to over-emphasise issues of "ethics" and "what-should-be-done" -- resulting in the mistaken view of such efforts as being moralising and somewhat parochial. Seeking an in-depth understanding of the wider societal context and community needs will surely translate heritage conservation efforts into real benefits for all concern.