South Korea to help safeguard Machu Picchu amid climate threats
South Korea will send experts to help preserve Machu Picchu, one of the most iconic sites of the Inca civilization, over the next five years, officials said Tuesday.
The Korea Heritage Service and the Korea Heritage Agency said they signed a Record of Discussions with Peru’s Ministry of Culture for an official development assistance project aimed at strengthening conservation and management capacity at the site.
The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed last year to launch the project and marks the start of full-scale efforts to preserve the original form of Machu Picchu while enhancing responses to increasingly severe climate change.
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“We plan to carry out a full-fledged project to preserve Machu Picchu, which is a shared heritage of humanity, for about five years through 2030,” an official from the Korea Heritage Service said.
Located at an altitude of 2,430 meters, Machu Picchu is an ancient city of the Inca Empire. Since its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, it has attracted about 1.5 million visitors annually. However, concerns over its preservation have grown in recent years due to natural disasters and climate change. Experts warn that irregular heavy rainfall in the Andes has weakened the ground and increased the risk of landslides.
Under the project, the two Korean institutions will support and cooperate in producing high-precision 3D digital documentation of the site and transferring related technologies, analyzing conservation conditions and introducing an integrated monitoring and maintenance system, as well as assisting pilot conservation and restoration projects and developing cultural heritage management manuals.
This marks the first time the South Korean government has undertaken an official development assistance project for cultural heritage in Latin America.
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The Korea Heritage Service has previously carried out similar cooperation projects in countries such as Laos and Cambodia, expanding its scope to Uzbekistan in 2020 and Egypt in 2023.
The agency said it aims to establish South Korea as a leading player in the global cultural heritage field while creating a model for international development cooperation to address the climate crisis. /dl
