ABU DHABI // Tourism workers have been learning how to preserve some of the UAE’s most important archaeological sites for posterity.
In 2011, Unesco designated Al Ain a World Heritage Site for its collection of ancient tombs, buildings and infrastructure, some of which are 4,000 years old.
The Protecting Heritage Sites programme is part of continuing education for tourism professionals. It will take place over two sessions, the first of which started last Sunday and runs until December 19.
Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi linked up with the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority to organise the course, which aims to develop these sites for tourism while ensuring they are properly maintained and managed.
The teachers are professionals and academics from backgrounds including archaeology and anthropology, while the majority of its attendees are tourism authority employees.
Topics covered include international legislation and guidelines, anthropological survey methods and local laws. The course includes field work in Al Ain.
Prof Eric Fouache, the university’s vice chancellor, said cooperation between the organisations was essential, adding that the tourism agency had asked his university to set up the programme.
“In a project like this, everyone is important,” Prof Fouache said.
Part of the field work involves talking with people in Al Ain to understand their views about the area, he said. Another aspect looks at how to manage the site and plan infrastructure.
Another teacher is Michel Cotto, an adviser to the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a non-government organisation that advises Unesco.
Mr Cotto also helped to evaluate Al Ain’s bid for World Heritage status, and said he hoped to see the region reach global standards in managing the sites.
“We need to think global but have action at a local [level], but that is not so easy,” he said.
Sultan Al Mansoori, senior overseas executive in the authority’s promotions department, called the course a knowledge transfer.
Mr Al Mansoori hoped the programme would be expanded to include academics and professionals outside of the authority, who may benefit from a more holistic understanding of heritage.
“If you don’t follow up and keep developing, how do you protect the sites in the future? One day it will go from us,” he said.
Mr Al Mansoori believed the course would prepare him for questions from overseas experts about the heritage sites.
The Al Ain sites are important because they chart the development of successive prehistoric cultures in the desert region, Unesco has said.
In ancient times the area was a crossroads for the people of Oman, Arabia and Mesopotamia.
The area holds many layers of archaeological remains, and displays the heritage of prehistoric water management in a desert civilisation.
Mr Cotto said although there were similar sites in Oman and Saudi Arabia, Al Ain was unique because the ancient buildings were spread across both oases and desert landscapes.
The second session of the programme is scheduled for February.
lcarroll@thenational.ae