Heritage and Tourism

[065] A Study on Development Strategy and Action Plans to Protect the Greater Lumbini Area in Nepal: Through Conservation Planning in Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality

Tomoko Mori, Takefumi Kurose, Yukio Nishimura

Keywords:Conservation Planning, Archaeological Sites, Lumbini, Nepal

Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, is in Western Nepal, and the landscape surrounding Lumbini related to Lord Buddha’s life is of Outstanding Universal Value. UNESCO has implemented the Japan Government funded project “Strengthening the Conservation and Management of Lumbini, the Birthplace of Lord Buddha, World Heritage Property” in corporation with Department of Archaeology (DoA) and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) since 2010. It clarified “preservation and management of the World Heritage property of Lumbini can only be successful if the preservation and management challenges of the cultural landscape and sites that surround the property are addressed at the same time.” Stretching out the scope to the Greater Lumbini Area (GLA), we as a planning team of the project have identified sub-surface archaeological sequences by mapping and discussed on how to manage them through conservation planning since 2014. Conservation planning plays a role for protecting archaeological sites and controlling their buffer zones at the same time. In Nepal, the protection mechanism for properties is based on “Ancient Monument Preservation Act 2013” under DoA. Some important properties are managed by LDT. The restriction framework surrounds properties is based on a regulation by local municipalities under the Local Self-Governance Act. However, these governmental bodies work individually. In the GLA, there are more than 250 archaeological sites, mostly uninvestigated. Municipalities oversee protecting culture under the article of the Local Self Governance Act and develop towns bylaws under the Town Development Act.
The purpose of this study is to discuss on development strategy and action plans to protect the GLA by conservation planning, specifically governmental structure with ordinances. Focusing on the Lumbini area as most advanced conservation planning area, where Lumbini World Heritage site under DoA situated inside the 1×3miles Kenzo Tange Master Plan (KTMP) under LDT control, and Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality surrounded the 1×3miles area, it reviews on the history of planning in the area and its legal framework. The “Planning, Building and Architectural Regulations and Guidelines of Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality” has three zones, a restriction zone and an ecological zone and an agriculture buffer zone, mainly for the protection of KTMP, and buried archaeological sites require 20m setback. It can be said that each territory under LDT and the municipality implement their regal frameworks, however the 1×3miles of KTMP is unrelated to Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality except for this zoning. In accordance with the Acts which require municipalities to develop their territory by themselves, “preserving by development” is important in the region like Lumbini, where the cultural landscape and sites that surround the properties, especially Lumibini and Tilaurakot, should be addressed at the same time.