Exploring factors of disaster preparedness in UNESCO-designated heritage sites

Abstract

Increased hazards threatening the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-designated sites and endangering cultural heritage and community well-being require attention and action. Considering the pivotal role of UNESCO sites in conservation and development, this study assessed their levels of disaster preparedness. The absence of studies assessing disaster awareness, risk perception, and preparedness among UNESCO site actors, as well as the pivotal place of preparedness within the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) cycle justifies this research. Applying the tenets of the Person-Relative-to-Event framework, we hypothesized that a strong positive correlation exists between perceived risks, resources, and disaster preparedness. To collect pertinent data, we employed an embedded mixed-method design and conducted an online questionnaire survey yielding 141 responses from 59 countries. From the results of relevant analyses, wildfires, floods, and droughts are top hazards occurring frequently in UNESCO sites, with significant concerns about pollution and habitat loss during future events. Smartphones emerged as the most available crucial DRM resource, with higher availability of DRM resources correlating positively and significantly with sites’ preparedness. Our findings contribute valuable insights to address missing links for disaster-ready and resilient UNESCO sites, promoting their preservation for future generations.

Keywords

Biosphere reserves / Disaster risk management (DRM) / Global geoparks / Person-relative-to-event (PRE) framework / Sustainability / World heritage sites

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Emmanuel Eze: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Alexander Siegmund: Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Ethical statement

Before initiating data collection, approval for the questionnaire was obtained from the Department of Geography at Heidelberg University of Education, Germany. Subsequently, a self-review of the objectives and instrument of the study according to stipulated university regulations and research ethics was approved as adequate. Consequently, the study adhered strictly to the principles of good scientific practices outlined in the ethical codes of the American Psychological Association (2016). Specifically, informed consent, the anonymity of responses, data privacy, and the right to withdraw from the study without any implication were presented to participants in this study. Five participants chose to opt out.

Declaration of competing interests

The authors declare that there are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that influenced the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

We extend our sincere gratitude to the participants who generously dedicated their time and efforts to respond to our survey, enabling the successful completion of this research. Valuable insights from Professor Dr. Hupke, Dr. Peterson, Johannes, Ann-Katherin, Franziska, and Dana were instrumental in refining and improving the questionnaire used in this study. Emmanuel Eze wishes to express sincere appreciation to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for their generous scholarship support, which has significantly contributed to his doctoral research, a portion of which is discussed in this paper. Special thanks are extended to Chinazaekpere Peace for insightful discussions. Dr. Chukwuebuka C. Okolo, Taye Bayode, and Isaac Ojima Apeh are acknowledged and appreciated for their invaluable feedback on the initial draft, which greatly enriched the ideas presented herein. Furthermore, we acknowledge the University of Heidelberg Project Deal Agreement for facilitating the open-access publication of this work.

Supplementary materials

Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.geosus.2024.04.001.

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