Cultural Impact Assessment and water
Water may have an impact on culture as well, as the UNESCO mission of saving Abu Simbel temple in the 60's demonstrated. The complex was relocated in its entirety on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan dam reservoir.
The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the Nile River.
From: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/lw/photos-ancient-egypt_abu-simbel-temple.jpg
Cultural Impact Assessment is a useful technique in assessing - and subsequently mitigating - adverse cultural impacts of innovations and developments.
Cultural Impact Assessment contains of the following steps:
- Reviewing the existing state of the cultural environment and the characteristics of the proposed action and possible alternative actions;
- Predicting the state of the future cultural environment with and without the action (the difference between the two is the action's impact);
- Considering methods for avoiding, eliminating or reducing any adverse impacts and determining possible compensation for them;
- Preparing a cultural impact statement or cultural assessment report which discusses the issues and is used to inform and influence decision-making; and
- After a decision is made about whether or how the action should proceed, monitoring the impacts which do occur, and acting on the results of such monitoring.