About Us
Zambia Cultural and Heritage Research Initiative (Z.C.H.R.I) is an undertaking by a group of Zambian youths who feel that very little is being done to preserve the local heritage and cultural monuments in the country.
According to the National Heritage Conservation Commission (N.H.C.C) profile report of heritage resources; which provides a broad overview of their current status countrywide, there are approximately 2,936 heritage sites in Zambia. The overwhelming majority of these are archaeological sites (1,959 sites).
For a considerable length of time, there have been no surveys carried out to check on the state of the majority of these sites. These surveys could help establish the state of conservation of many of these sites. This therefore means that the current condition of most of these sites is unknown.
Furthermore, according to the ICOMOS Zambia report published in 2002, only about 15% of the country's land area that had been adequately surveyed for cultural heritage - the remaining 75% of the country has yet to be surveyed. This state of affairs is in itself a threat to the very existence of cultural heritage resources.
This raises the question; how can one manage a resource whose condition is unknown?
The aim of this website is to help map out the locations of these heritage sites. Many Zambians do not know the locations of these places and what they mean to the country's rich history.
This initiative is but the first step out of a thousand that are aimed at preserving our natural, cultural, political and historic heritage. With this, we hope to work with all the stakeholders in sensitizing the populous on the importance of these sites, not just to know about the past, but also for future generations to come.
Diverse impacts affect these heritage resources. They can only be conserved in perpetuity if their condition is known, as well as that of their surrounding environment, in order to determine immediate risks that may threaten their existence.
According to the National Heritage Conservation Commission (N.H.C.C) profile report of heritage resources; which provides a broad overview of their current status countrywide, there are approximately 2,936 heritage sites in Zambia. The overwhelming majority of these are archaeological sites (1,959 sites).
For a considerable length of time, there have been no surveys carried out to check on the state of the majority of these sites. These surveys could help establish the state of conservation of many of these sites. This therefore means that the current condition of most of these sites is unknown.
Furthermore, according to the ICOMOS Zambia report published in 2002, only about 15% of the country's land area that had been adequately surveyed for cultural heritage - the remaining 75% of the country has yet to be surveyed. This state of affairs is in itself a threat to the very existence of cultural heritage resources.
This raises the question; how can one manage a resource whose condition is unknown?
The aim of this website is to help map out the locations of these heritage sites. Many Zambians do not know the locations of these places and what they mean to the country's rich history.
This initiative is but the first step out of a thousand that are aimed at preserving our natural, cultural, political and historic heritage. With this, we hope to work with all the stakeholders in sensitizing the populous on the importance of these sites, not just to know about the past, but also for future generations to come.
Diverse impacts affect these heritage resources. They can only be conserved in perpetuity if their condition is known, as well as that of their surrounding environment, in order to determine immediate risks that may threaten their existence.
