21 Oct 2023 at 06: 01 PUBLISHED
After Unesco designated Si Thep Historical Park in Phetchabun province as a World Heritage Site( WHS ) this week, the Thai delegation has expressed concern that it is ill-prepared to handle an anticipated influx of tourists.
The Fine Arts Department and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning ( Onep ) proposed adding Si Thep Ancient City to the list of world heritage sites in 2019. On September 19, during its protracted 45th conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Unesco World Heritage Committee announced that Thailand had been designated as a social page.
The other three are Ban Chiang Archaeological Site in Udon Thani and Sukhothai Historical Park in the state of Ayutthaya.
However, worries are growing that Si Thep Historical Park’s ability to accommodate visitors — whose number is now anticipated to increase — might be exceeded by its recently acquired status.
Jatuporn Buruspat, the permanent repository for natural sources and the head of the Thai group, told reporters after the meeting that maintaining a World Heritage Site is more difficult than being designated one because Unesco conducts an assessment every month.
He stated that” locals and the general public have a role to play in protecting the area and preventing impact on this historic site.”
Head of the Si Thep aircraft laser inquiry team and Chulalongkorn University history professional Pacharaporn Panomwon Na Ayutthaya forewarned that a sudden influx of visitors may destroy the location.
The area’s roads and trash control need to be improved, and the site has a lack of basic system. Parking place is even insufficient, according to Ms. Pacharaporn.
A spike in the price of traditional artifacts on the black market following Si Thep’s listing, according to Ms. Pacharaporn, may have put some hidden sites within the old city at risk of having their artwork looted.
One of the most looted locations in Thailand in the 1970s and 1980s was said to be” Si Thep old capital.”
According to Ms. Pacharaporn, the land boundary and zoning issues surrounding the site are still unsolved, and they have presumably impacted nearly 300 villagers and numerous households without land title documents.