How climate change affects conservation of documentary heritage in Africa
When documents are exposed to hot and humid climate, the paper quality deteriorates
What you need to know:
- Mr Kibirige Dean, who doubles as a producer and head of library and archives at Uganda Broadcasting Corperation tasked the audience to always back up data.
Experts have spotted out climate change as a huge danger to conservation of documentary heritage in Africa.
‘’When documents are exposed to hot and humid climate, the paper quality deteriorates. The pictures change. So you need a good method to preserve it,” said UNESCO’s regional adviser for communication and information in Africa, Ms Misako Ito during a hybrid seminar on preventive conservative and disaster prevention of documentary heritage in Africa at Makerere University.
Similarly, Ms Sarah Kaddu, the dean for East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS), Makerere University said, “we have seen people lose a lot of information when their offices flood.”
Prof Tonny Oyana, the principal College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) called for digitalization of data for better preservation.
“All Universities across the world are a depository for documentary heritage,” he said.
According to Makerere University deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof Umar Kakumba, digitalizing data “helped the university save a great deal of data when the main building burnt down.”
Mr Kibirige Dean, who doubles as a producer and head of library and archives at Uganda Broadcasting Corperation tasked the audience to always back up data. According to him, “storing data digitally may be expensive but it is one of the best ways to save information.”
