The Asia-Pacific region has recently been affected by many disasters such as earthquakes, fires, the tsunami or warfare. In developing countries where disaster prevention and mitigation measures are not yet fully developed, these disasters have caused tremendous loss of life and property. Moreover, lack of emergency response and post-disaster recovery plans have inflicted great damage to cultural heritage, which causes loss of common memory and cultural identity among the local people. As much as the social infrastructure is necessary to rebuild people's lives, cultural heritage is also needed as a common asset that forms the spiritual backbone supporting the people in the course of recovery from disasters.

The UNESCO Chair Program on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage has been developed as a follow-up of the Recommendations adopted at the UNESCO/ ICCROM/ Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan - Thematic Meeting on "Cultural Heritage Risk Management " held as part of the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe in January 2005. The Recommendations requested the academic community to integrate the related professional fields, and make use of systems like the UNESCO Chair Program, in order to create an international support network and organize a training course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage. Ritsumeikan University, having been designated by the UNESCO to carry out the Thematic Meeting, felt necessary to quickly realize these recommendations as a member of the academic community. In December 2005 it organized the International Seminar on World Heritage Protection, to examine which fields of international cooperation were needed and were possible to realize, and applied in March 2006 for the world's first UNESCO Chair Program in the field of risk management for cultural heritage. Ritsumeikan University regards this UNESCO Chair as an international contribution based on the research outcomes of the Global Program for Education, Research and Development of Strategy on Disaster Mitigation of Cultural Heritage and Historic Cities.

The UNESCO Chair Program is one of the most important inter-disciplinary activities, which UNESCO carries out to return the results of higher education research to developing countries. Ritsumeikan University nominated Prof. Kanefusa MASUDA from the Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage (Rits-DMUCH), as the UNESCO Chair Holder in charge, and the Chair Program was certified by the UNESCO in October 2006.

The International Training Course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage is the major activity of the UNESCO Chair Program, and its purpose is to invite experts both from the fields of "cultural heritage conservation" and of "disaster mitigation". After attending the lectures, the field trips and the workshop, participants from these two fields were asked to work together to identify the problems in their respective countries and to formulate a Disaster Risk Management Plan for their own cultural heritage sites.

The main objective of the International Training Course is to provide an overview of the various facets of disaster risk management of cultural heritage. The course provides interdisciplinary training for the professionals to:

The course comprises lectures, site visits, workshops, discussions, team projects and individual/group presentations. Participants are expected to actively participate throughout the course. The course aims at promoting the development of collaborations and network building among scholars and professionals in cultural heritage protection. This course is provided scientific support by the World Heritage Centre (UNESCO) and ICCROM.