Bridget Chitalu, Zambia

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Ms Bridget Chitalu, SCGIS Student Member (Chair SCGIS Events Subcommittee), Zambia

x2013Scholar x2013Talk  xCulture xHeritage xHistorical xArchaeology  xUnesco

2013 Conference Paper:

GIS Use in Natural Heritage Management in Zambia

Presenter(s): *Bridget Chitalu, National Heritage Conservation Commission (UNESCO), Zambia

Zambia is endowed with a number of unique natural and cultural heritage sites of international, national, regional and local significance. There are more than 4000 heritage sites/ associated objects managed under the National Heritage Conservation Commission Act in Zambia of which 80 are Declared National Monuments and only 88 sites are fully monitored and managed sites. These are sites of educational and tourism value. The heritage sites are grouped into two major categories: cultural and natural heritage. However, the paper will mainly focus on the use of GIS in management of natural heritage of Zambia. Objectives: to classify natural heritage found in Zambia; to show the importance of GIS in determining exact locations of natural heritage sites around the country; to determine the use of GIS in various monitoring and evaluation of natural heritage sites; to recommend GIS in management of heritage sites that are not accessible by road. GIS can be a very important tool in the management of natural heritage sites. It can also be used to monitor and evaluate the state of conservation of heritage sites.

2013 Scholar Profile:

email address(es): Bridgetchitalu@yahoo.com , bgtchitalu@gmail.com
title or role in the organization: SCGIS Student Member (Chair SCGIS Events Subcommittee)
interest keywords (please see instructions): envir education , Biodiversity Conservation
Organization name: Society for Conservation GIS Zambia Chapter
*-Organization full street address (in your local format): Plot 1273 Kafue Road
*-Organization full mailing address, if different: C/O ZAWA, Private Bag 1 Chilanga
*-Country: Zambia
*-Work phone with country and area code: +260211278513
*-Work fax with country and area code: +260278365
*-Main email: Zambia@scgis.org
*-Organization Web site URL if any: www.scgis.org
*-Organization subject keywords (please see instructions): Conservation GIS

describe the work that your current organization does: The National Heritage Conservation Commission derives it legal mandate from Cap 173 of the Laws of Zambia which provides for Conservation of ancient, cultural and natural heritage, relics and other objects of aesthetic, historical, pre-historical, archaeological or scientific interest; to provide for the regulation of archaeological excavations and export of relics. Therefore its main focus is to manage and conserve Zambia’s immovable cultural and natural heritage in posterity for public enjoyment and education.
Cap 173 of the Laws of Zambia provides for:

1. Identification, recording, evaluation and documentation of heritage sites (new and old) eg Tuta Bridge. 
2. Formulating conservation management policies and operational standards and guidelines for heritage conservation, development and management of heritage sites in Zambia

describe your personal role in the organization:
I have been working with National Heritage Conservation Commission on several GIS projects as an intern on voluntary basis. These projects are identified and funded by the institution and it’s partners. One such project is the retrospective inventory of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site Boundary Mapping requested by the World Heritage Centre UNESCO Headquarters in Paris France.  This was a mapping exercise for the world heritage site funded by National Heritage Conservation Commission. GIS experts from SCGIS Zambia Chapter helped in developing the procedures and defining the tasks of GIS in the project apart from mentorship. 

describe the history of your personal work in conservation and GIS: Since 2010, I have been involved in the conservation of Zambia’s heritage resources particularly natural heritage conservation through my internship work with National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC). I have been working closely with NHCC officers on several natural heritage conservation projects including monitoring and evaluation as well as management planning of natural heritage resources.
I have been involved in development of the institution database by taking and recording coordinates of Natural Heritage sites using GPS and Google earth for the sites that are not accessible by road. This serves as a source of information for further GIS data analysis. I have also used these coordinates to supplement the information in the national heritage register spreadsheet and import the data into ArcGIS.

describe your connection to the local SCGIS chapter: I have been a member of the SCGIS Zambia Chapter since the year 2011. As a member, I have attended several planning meetings for the chapter. In the year 2012 I was appointed as a member of the SCGIS Zambia Chapter Events (launch) Subcommittee by the executive committee.  This is a special committee to organize special events such as the launch of the SCGIS Zambia Chapter in Zambia and other public participations where the chapter is involved. Within this committee I was elected as chairperson during its first meeting. My roles as the chairperson were to spearhead the planning of the launch in terms of organizing meetings, allocate responsibilities to the members, identify potential sponsors, and lobby for funds among others.   

describe what is the most unique and the most challenging about the conservation/GIS work that you do: Natural Heritage Conservation work  involves conservation of a variety of unique heritage sites most of which encompass both the natural and cultural heritage aspects. Most of these sites have have both natural as well as cultural values. In some cases there is a very thin line to distinguish between the two aspects and it has been argued that what is known as natural heritage is basically cultural heritage since it is usually associated with mankind. This is also reflected in the implementation UNESCO Conventions where world Heritage Sites as considered as part of the Cultural Sector. The nearby communities have their own traditional/cultural values attached to these sites which they also wish to preserve.
The uniqueness of this type of conservation lies in the fact that each aspect of cultural or natural heritage is conserved differently by different conservation agents. Therefore monitoring the state of conservation of any type of heritage requires recognition of who the agent is and understanding the role of the agent and how each agent is involved. At times the agents themselves are found to be carriers of the heritage as in the case intangible cultural heritage. The many challenges within this conservation sector point to the fact that carriers/ agents of some of the heritage are very difficult to identify from communities despite their importance in heritage conservation. The local community plays a very important row in making these beliefs that are attached to the site known to the relevant authorities and the general public. This results in the conservation/preservation of the flora and fauna found in the forest. Identifying exact locations of some traditional sites that have been neglected for long periods of time also makes it difficult to defend their place/existence on the list of protected sites even if the local communities believe they exist. This makes it difficult to conserve such sites. Conducting heritage inspection for some of the sites that are not accessible by road is yet another challenge faced in the conservation of Zambia’s heritage. This is why out of 4052 declared heritage site only 88 are protected and fully managed by government.