Towards Sustainable Communities: Community-Based Cultural Heritage Resources Management (COBACHREM) Model

Abstract

The precautionary principle of sustainable development requires that conservation measures be developed prior to destruction of a resource. Development of a community-based cultural heritage resources management (COBACHREM) model aims to provide a point of departure for African cultural conservation, whereby production and consumption indicators of cultural heritage resources conservation are identified and isolated for montoring purposes. A focus on community is important because it is at grassroots level where people apply their socio-cultural and psycho-social behaviours and processes to interact with environments. People use their socio-cultural understanding of phenomena to interact with the environment. These characteristics make cultural values ubiquitous in all people-accessed and people-inhabited geographic spaces thus making people readily available assets and mediums through which environmental sustainability can be implemented.