The future of the World Heritage Convention ahead of its 40th anniversary next year and the growing challenges of heritage preservation were the key themes of the opening addresses of the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO in Paris today. The session will end on 29 June.
The Chairperson of 35th session,
Shaikha Mai bint Muhammad Al Khalifa, Minister of Culture of the Kingdom
of Bahrain, argued that “the future of the Convention is essential […]
to maintain efforts carried out over almost 40 years for the protection
of irreplaceable and priceless heritage of humanity.”
The Chairperson highlighted the challenges to the
credibility of the Convention: “its relations with other international
conventions, the balance within the World Heritage List […] between the
types and categories of properties inscribed, the reinforcement of
capacities […], the essential role of local communities, awareness
raising and the promotion of the principles of the Convention.”
“In a world of change, World Heritage is a reminder
of all that unites humanity,” said the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina
Bokova. “It is a reminder also of the ties between culture, nature and
societies.”
“World Heritage sites can be tremendous vectors for
dialogue, reconciliation, development and knowledge,” said Bokova, who
nevertheless pointed out: “As the number of World Heritage sites grows,
so does their vulnerability. We must sharpen our focus on risk
preparedness and long-term management at World Heritage sites,” she
said.
Both Davidson L. Hepburn, President of UNESCO’s
General Conference, and Eleonora Valentinova Mitrofanova, Chairperson of
the Organization’s Executive Board, highlighted the importance of World
Heritage protection for UNESCO and for the international community.
During the coming days, the World Heritage Committee
will examine the state of conservation of 169 World Heritage
properties, including 34 on the List of World Heritage in Danger. It
will also examine 37 sites proposed for inscription. They are:
Natural properties: Ningaloo Coast (Australia);
Pendjari National Park (Benin, an extension of W National Park of
Niger); Wudalianchi National Park (China); Ancient Beech Forests of
Germany (Germany, an extension of the Primeval Beech Forests of the
Carpathians, Slovakia and Ukraine); Western Ghats (India); Harra
Protected Area (Iran); Ogasawara Islands (Japan); Kenya Lake System in
the Great Rift Valley; (Kenya); Trinational Sangha (Congo, Cameroon,
Central African Republic) and the nomination under new criteria of the
World Heritage property of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Viet Nam).
Three properties are proposed for both natural and
cultural criteria as “mixed natural and cultural” sites. They are: Blue
and John Crow Mountains National Park (Jamaica); Wadi Rum (Jordan); and
Saloum Delta (Senegal).
The following cultural properties will be considered
for inscription: Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain);
Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados); West Lake Cultural Landscape of
Hangzhou (China); Coffee Cultural Landscape (Colombia); Konso Cultural
Landscape (Ethiopia); The Causses and the Cévennes (France); The
architectural work of Le Corbusier, an outstanding contribution to the
Modern Movement (France, Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Japan,
Switzerland); Fagus Factory in Alfeld (Germany); The Persian Garden
(Iran); The Triple-arch Gate at Dan (Israel); The Longobards in Italy,
Places of Power, 568 - 774 A.D., (Italy); Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens
and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land (Japan);
Fort Jesus, Mombasa (Kenya); Transboundary Nomination for Yapese Stone
Money Sites in Palau and Yap (Micronesia / Palau); Petroglyphic
Complexes of the Mongolian Altai (Mongolia); León Cathedral (Nicaragua);
Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana (Spain); Archaeological
Sites of the Island of Meroe (Sudan); Prehistoric Pile dwellings around
the Alps (Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia);
Ancient villages of Northern Syria (Syrian Arab Republic); Selimiye
Mosque and its social Complex (Turkey); Residence of Bukovinian and
Dalmatia Metropolitans (Ukraine); Cultural Sites of Al Ain: Hafit, Hili,
Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas (United Arab Emirates); Citadel of the
Ho Dynasty (Viet Nam).
The World Heritage Committee, responsible for the
implementation of the World Heritage Convention, comprises
representatives of 21 countries, elected by the States Parties of the
World Heritage Convention for four years. Each year, the Committee adds
new sites to the List.
The World Heritage Committee also examines reports
on the state of conservation of inscribed sites and asks States Parties
to take appropriate conservation and preservation measures when
necessary. The Committee supervises the disbursement of over $4 million
annually from the World Heritage Fund, aimed, among other purposes, at
emergency action, training of experts and encouraging technical
cooperation. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre is the Secretariat of the
World Heritage Committee. The debates of the Committee are closed to the
press.
To date, the World Heritage List numbers 911
properties of “outstanding universal value,” including 704 cultural, 180
natural and 27 mixed properties in 151 States Parties. The World Heritage Convention has been ratified by 187 States Parties to date.
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