Six site managers from the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board are in South Korea for a seven-week training on protecting heritage sites from climate risks. The 2026 Korea-Ghana Cultural Heritage Climate Change Site Manager Training Course began on 6 October and runs until 20 November.
The course is organised by the Korea Heritage Service and the Korean National Commission for UNESCO. It is part of a wider project to strengthen climate change response for six forts and castles in the Greater Accra Region, which form part of Ghana’s World Heritage property. These sites bear witness to the transatlantic slave trade and the African diaspora. Because they all sit on the coast, they face coastal erosion, rising sea levels, salt damage and heavy rainfall.
Trainees in Korea are learning how to diagnose, record and assess damage. Sessions cover climate risk assessment, structural safety inspections, hands-on work with crack gauges, 3D scanners and portable XRF analyzers, and GIS-based data building. Each participant will prepare a monitoring plan for the fort or castle they manage.
The programme also takes them to heritage sites across Korea, including Changdeokgung Palace, the Baekje Historic Areas, Gyeongju, Bulguksa Temple, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and Namhansanseong Fortress.
Back in Ghana, site managers of the Forts and Castles of Ghana took part in a two-day technical training on 27 and 28 October 2026. Led by Korean experts, the sessions focused on how to use specialised monitoring equipment, so they can better protect these World Heritage sites from climate risks such as coastal erosion and rising seas.
After the training, the managers will begin pilot monitoring at the forts and castles in December. Monitoring equipment will be installed on site in November, and an online platform to gather the data is planned for next year.
Kim Jong-seung of the Korea Heritage Service said the aim is to help Ghana’s site managers build the skills to record and judge changes at the forts and castles in a systematic way.
*Source: Korean National Commission for UNESCO, 7 October 2026.*
