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UNESCO, through its Heritage Emergency Fund (HEF), will allocate more than 250,000 dollars to strengthen fire risk management and emergency preparedness through a pilot plan at the . This will include training and the organisation of an international conference.

The activities funded by UNESCO will specifically focus on raising awareness among stakeholders involved in the site’s management about the increasing impact of fire risks on Cultural Heritage, exacerbated by climate change, and the urgent need to protect the World Heritage property.

The project aims not only to improve national, local, and community-level capacities in disaster risk reduction at the World Heritage site but also to empower local communities and stakeholders to protect their territories, cultural landscapes, and historical sites. This initiative will serve as a pilot activity for UNESCO's Fire Risk Management Guide for Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Firstly, a Fire Risk Management Plan (FRMP) will be developed for the World Heritage site using a community-based approach in line with the guidelines provided by UNESCO’s Fire Risk Management Guide. During the initiative's development, workshops, fire drills, and preparedness activities will be organised for local organisations and stakeholders.

Additionally, practical tools will be developed, and capacities strengthened for fire prevention, mitigation, and emergency response. These include checklists and leaflets that will be distributed in educational establishments, neighbourhood associations, and tourist information points as part of a strategy to raise awareness about the need to protect heritage.

In a second phase, communities and heritage managers or administrators from Latin America and the Caribbean will be invited to participate in an international conference to disseminate broader knowledge on fire risk management issues and to strengthen networking and knowledge exchange.

“Investing resources to face and respond to emergencies in a more prepared and effective manner is a key action in protecting our heritage. Therefore, we are very pleased to support the World Heritage site in Valparaíso from UNESCO, providing concrete tools that strengthen its management and conservation so that its heritage value and character endure for many more years, passing on to new generations,” said Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We appreciate the work carried out by various areas of our ministry along with the site’s administrator, in conjunction with UNESCO, which allows us to deliver this good news to the community of the historic quarter of the port city of Valparaíso. The State is responsible for protecting the country's cultural heritage, as well as promoting preventive measures for its enhancement and sustainability over time. We are confident that the development of this project, in addition to the capacity building that will take place in the territory, will be a great contribution to the site's management,” commented Carolina Pérez Dattari, Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage of Chile.

“This funding and the resulting actions deepen the work on disaster risk management in line with the risk management plan that is already being articulated as a programme and approach in the ten-year planning for the World Heritage site, with strong inter-institutional collaboration. It also enhances the responses we must articulate for the conservation of the attributes that make up its ‘outstanding universal value’. This collaboration aligns with the extraordinary support needed,” highlighted Macarena Carroza Solar, Executive Director of the Municipal Corporation of the World Heritage Site of Valparaíso.
 

UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund

UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund finances preparedness and response activities in emergency situations within the framework of UNESCO’s culture conventions. This includes immovable cultural and natural heritage, movable cultural heritage, cultural repositories, underwater cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, and the diversity of cultural goods, services, and expressions.

The fund’s objectives include strengthening the capacity of Member States to prevent, mitigate, and recover the loss of heritage and cultural diversity due to conflicts and natural disasters, a situation that also applies to the World Heritage site of Rapa Nui (Chile).

This activity is supported by UNESCO's Heritage Emergency Fund. UNESCO thanks its donors: the Qatar Fund for Development, the Government of Canada, the Kingdom of Norway, the French Republic, the Principality of Monaco, ANA Holdings INC., the Republic of Estonia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Principality of Andorra, and the Republic of Serbia.

• CNN Chile
  
• El Mercurio de Valparaíso 
  
• El Mostrador