Cultural Memory Center Attends Int'l Conference on Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia

The international conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia” was held in Paris on April 29 and 30
The international conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia” was held in Paris on April 29 and 30
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Cultural Memory Center Attends Int'l Conference on Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia

The international conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia” was held in Paris on April 29 and 30
The international conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia” was held in Paris on April 29 and 30

The Saudi Cultural Memory Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, participated in the two-day international conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia,” held in Paris on April 29.

The event was organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Kingdoms Institute Platform for the Promotion of Documentary Heritage.
At the conference, the center’s national pavilion highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts in preserving documentary heritage and promoting accessibility for enthusiasts and researchers. It also showcased two new typefaces launched by the Ministry of Culture: Al-Awwal Typeface and Saudi Typeface.
The center emphasized its ongoing efforts to preserve national documentary heritage through pioneering projects aligned with the UNESCO Memory of the World Program, which seeks to safeguard humanity’s documentary legacy and ensure its availability for future generations. The pavilion offered informative activities, including a dedicated area spotlighting the new typefaces as essential tools in preserving Saudi cultural identity and reflecting their historical and cultural importance.
The center also showcased its national initiative for cultural heritage documentation and digital archiving, a key project designed to preserve and record the national memory using top international standards across various regions of the Kingdom.
In addition, the center distributed the Cultural Heritage Documentation and Digital Archiving Guide to promote awareness of the importance of protecting documents and manuscripts. An interactive display featured touchscreen access to the “Cultural Hub” website and the digital platform supporting efforts to document and disseminate cultural heritage.



UN: Most World Heritage Sites at Risk of Drought or Flooding

Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
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UN: Most World Heritage Sites at Risk of Drought or Flooding

Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)

Almost three quarters of the globe's cultural and natural heritage sites are threatened by too little or too much water, the UN's cultural agency said on Tuesday.

As a result of rising temperatures, extreme weather events including hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves have become more frequent and intense, scientists warn.

Seventy-three percent of all 1,172 non-marine sites on the UNESCO Heritage List are exposed to at least one severe water risk -- including water stress, drought, river flooding or coastal flooding, UNESCO said.

"Water stress is projected to intensify, most notably in regions like the Middle East and North Africa, parts of South Asia and northern China — posing long-term risks to ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the communities and tourism economies that depend on them," it added, according to AFP.

Cultural sites were most commonly threatened by water scarcity, while more than half of natural sites faced the risk of flooding from a nearby river, the UNESCO study showed.

In India, the Taj Mahal monument in Agra, for example, "faces water scarcity that is increasing pollution and depleting groundwater, both of which are damaging the mausoleum," the study said.

In the United State, "in 2022, a massive flood closed down all of Yellowstone National Park and cost over $20 million in infrastructure repairs to reopen."
The report gave four more examples.

Iraq's southern marshes -- the reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden -- "face extremely high water stress, where over 80 percent of the renewable supply is withdrawn to meet human demand", it added.

And competition for water is expected to increase in the marshes, where migratory birds live and inhabitants raise buffalo, as the region grows hotter in coming years.

On the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls -- originally called Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") before it was renamed by Scottish explorer David Livingstone -- has faced recurring drought and is sometimes reduced to a trickle.

In Peru, the pre-Colombian city of Chan Chan and its delicate 1,000-year-old adobe walls face an extremely high risk of river flooding, UNESCO said.

In China, rising sea levels driven in large part by climate change are leading to coastal flooding, which destroys mudlands where migratory waterbirds find food, it added.