BEIJING: With the theme of Cave Temple Conservation in the Context of Climate Change, the first International Forum on Cave Temple Conservation was established in Chongqing Municipality. The ceremony was organized in the Baoding Mountains, whose carvings were made during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and are deemed a key part of the Dazu Rock Carvings World Cultural Heritage Site, which was listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999.
However, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in extreme weather events, and the impact of climate change on carvings is mostly reflected in two aspects: wind erosion and humidity. To protect the rock carvings, heated discussions have triggered among experts and scholars from Pakistan, Italy, Germany, and other nations on the protection of cave temple conservation and the mitigating effects of climate change through international cooperation.
In such a context, the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing Friendly Relations and Cooperation between two institutions, the Museum of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar and the Academy of Dazu Rock Carvings, was signed.
Director-General of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr. Abdul, who inked the MoU on behalf of Pakistan, said that inking the MoU will benefit a wider group outside Pakistan and China.
Potential for Cooperation Between Pakistan, China
He said that both countries have many areas of cooperation covering economic problems, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and CPEC. However, cooperation and exchanges between our nations in terms of cultural heritage are still relatively small.
Dazu Rock Carvings has a total of seventy places with over 50,000 stone statues, most of which are excavated between mountains and on cliffs. Because of many factors, such as climate and geology and climate, the restoration and protection of cultural relics have always been an international difficulty.
