Press
Release No.2002-90
UNESCO CELEBRATES
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION IN VENICE
Venice, November 14 - Some 500
heritage experts, prominent representatives of politics and business
are gathered in Venice for the next three days (November 14-16)
to participate in an international congress entitled "World
Heritage 2002: Shared Legacy, Common Responsibility." Organized
by UNESCO, the event marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,
UNESCO's most widely ratified legal instrument.
Adopted in Paris on 16 November
1972, the Convention entered into force in December 1975 when
it was ratified by 20 countries. Today it numbers 175 States Parties
and stands as a vital instrument for concrete action in preserving
threatened cultural and natural sites.
This can be seen from the many
actions conducted to safeguard humanity's common heritage, including
the campaign to preserve the cultural heritage of Easter Island
(Chile), the restoration of mural paintings in the tomb of Amenophis
III (Egypt) and the rehabilitation of the Acropolis in Athens
(Greece).
Furthermore, the Convention gave
birth to the World Heritage List, which now numbers 730 natural
and cultural sites spread across the five continents. Bearing
witness to exceptional achievements of civilizations and nature,
these sites enjoy recognition for their "outstanding universal
value."
As such, the term World Heritage
embraces an impressive diversity of places and landscapes as emblematic
as Iguazu National Park shared by Brazil and Argentina, the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial (Japan), New Zealand's Sub-Antarctic islands, the
royal palaces of Abomey (Benin) and naturally, the city of Venice
and its lagoon, where the Congress takes place.
World Heritage sites face multiple
threats, from wars, natural disasters and illicit excavations
to sprawling urbanization and unmanaged tourism. To address the
most acute problems, the World Heritage Centre earmarks an annual
fund of nearly US$4 million, used to assist States Parties in
taking emergency measures, as well as for training purposes.
In 2002, assistance was notably
provided following gale force winds (120 km per hour) that swept
over the wooden churches of Chiloé (Chile) last March,
destroying the tower of Our Lady of the Rosary in Chonchi, and
the August floods that damaged several world heritage sites in
Central Europe, including the cultural landscape of Wachau (Austria)
and the historic centre of Prague (Czech Republic).
The fund also assists certain States
Parties in identifying sites for potential inscription on the
List, provides technical assistance in safeguarding sites and
skills training to local specialists. In addition, the "world
heritage" label is a magnet for international cooperation
and attracts other resources, chiefly linked to tourism.
Since the Convention was adopted
30 years ago and the World Heritage List inaugurated in 1978 with
the inscription of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and 11 other sites,
the very concept of world heritage has significantly evolved.
From focusing on monumental and religious sites, it has expanded
to include mixed sites (natural and cultural sites such as Tongariro
National Park in New Zealand, the first of its kind, inscribed
in 1990), cultural landscapes (23 in all, including Viñales
Valley in Cuba), and places of memory (the above mentioned Hiroshima
Peace Memorial, the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, and
the Island of Gorée in Senegal).
Furthermore, 33 of the 730 sites
are inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, which is
"in no way a sanction," underlines Francesco Bandarin,
director of the World Heritage Centre. "On the contrary,
very often it is a way for States concerned to attract national
and international attention and to take measures to overcome problems."
The most recent example is the Minaret and Archaeological Remains
of Jam, the first site in Afghanistan to be inscribed on the World
Heritage List, in 2002.
Finally, UNESCO's actions are by
no means limited to sites on the List. "There is no double
standard in heritage," insists Mounir Bouchenaki, Assistant
Director-General for Culture. "Sites inscribed on the List
often serve as locomotives to call international attention to
the great wealth of heritage on our planet."
The Venice meeting, hosted by the
Italian government, the Veneto region and the city and province
of Venice, is part of the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage,
celebrated throughout 2002. The five working sessions (three mornings
and two afternoons), will provide the opportunity to take stock
of the Convention's 30 years but, most importantly, to explore
new paths for increasing its scope and associating NGOs, civil
society and the private sector in the sustainable conservation
of cultural properties*.
This is a key task, as UNESCO's
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura underlines: "The
identification, preservation and enhancement of sites reflecting
our world's natural and cultural diversity can be assured only
if governments, local authorities, business and, especially, local
populations work at it together. To this end, we must incite every
citizen to become an actor in the conservation and enhancement
of humanity's cultural heritage."
****
* A number of eminent specialists
will address the Congress, including former President of Mali,
Alpha Oumar Konaré; Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka,
the President of the World Heritage Committee, Tamás Fejerdy;
the Director-General for Cultural Promotion and Cooperation of
the Italian Chancellery, Francesco Aloisi de Larderel; the Mayor
of Venice, Paolo Costa; and the Secretary-General of the International
Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Jean-Louis Luxen. UNESCO
will be represented by its Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura;
Deputy Director-General Marcio Barbosa; Assistant Director-General
for Culture Mounir Bouchenaki; Assistant Director-General for
Science, Walter Erdelen; and the Director of the World Heritage
Centre, Francesco Bandarin.
Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak
and the Italian ministers of Culture, Giuliano Urbani, and of
the Environment, Altero Matteoli, will address the closing session
in the morning of November 16.
****
Contacts
Lucía Iglesias
Kuntz
Tel : +33-6 1469 5498
e-mail : l.iglesias@unesco.org
Carole Darmouni
Tel : + 33-6 1801 8882
e-mail : c.darmouni@unesco.org
A press kit is available at the following address:
http://www.unesco.org/bpi/fre/unescopresse/2002/47-avisf.shtml
For photographs,
please contact:
Ariane Bailey:
Tel : +33-1 4568 1686
e-mail: a.bailey@unesco.org
For television footage,
please contact:
Carole Darmouni
Tel + 33-6 1801 8882
e-mail : c.darmouni@unesco.org
For further information: http://whc.unesco.org/venice2002
