Environmental factors,
lack of maintenance and uncontrollable urban developments have been cited as
reasons to inscribe the Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama:
Portobelo-San Lorenzo on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger.
The site, comprising a group of
fortifications, is a magnificent example of 17th- and 18th-century military
architecture built on Panama’s Caribbean coast to protect transatlantic trade.
The Committee considered that the site,
inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1980, is deteriorating at a rate
which could undermine the outstanding universal value for which it was
inscribed.
Over more than a decade, the Committee has
been asking for measures to preserve the site. During Wednesday’s session it
emphasized the call for Panama to undertake a risk assessment for structure in
the site and reinforce the walls, batteries and platforms of the forts.
Other measures requested included the
development of a comprehensive conservation plan and an end to urban
encroachment on the property. There was concern for the absence of funding to
protect the site.
The List of World Heritage in Danger is
designed to inform the international community of threats to the outstanding
universal values for which a property has been inscribed on the World Heritage
List, and to encourage corrective action.
Fortifications
on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo
OUR PLACE The
World Heritage Collection / OUR PLACE The World Heritage Collection
