Brazil’s heritage sites at risk of crumbling

HISTORIC sites in Brazil such as the slave harbour Valongo wharf are in danger of crumbling unless they receive more funding, the country’s national heritage authorities have said.

Twenty-one local governments have demanded extra care and funding for Brazil’s 14 Unesco cultural heritage sites and seven natural heritage sites.

“The main problem is the lack of public policies guaranteeing adequate infrastructure,” Andrey Schlee, of the National Historical and Artistic Patrimony Heritage (IPHAN), told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.paulo. He said tourists would avoid historic centres where vistas are spoiled by crumbling buildings and litter-filled pavements.

Rio de Janeiro’s Valongo wharf was declared a Unesco site last July, based on discoveries of mass graves for African slaves who did not survive the journey across the Atlantic during Brazil’s colonial period.

Although the municipal government plans to turn the area into an open-air museum by 2020, institutions caring for the sites are running low on funds.

“We want to refurbish the pavements, install electric wiring, and invest in basic sewerage, which many of these historic cities don’t have,” said IPHAN’S director of special projects, Robson de Almeida.