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The Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage, which gave rise to the List, is 30 years old
this year. It was adopted in Paris on November 16, 1972
and came into force in December 1975, when the minimum
requirement of 20 countries had ratified it. Today, with
175 States-Parties, it is UNESCO's most widely-backed
legal instrument. To mark this anniversary, UNESCO will
hold an international congress ("Shared Legacy, Common
Responsibility") in Venice from November 14 to 16,
with the support of the Italian government and the city
council.
The Congress
will bring together more than 500 experts at the Cini
Foundation, on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore,
to analyse the successes and problems over 30 years of
applying the Convention; to work out ways of making the
Convention and UNESCO's efforts to protect World Heritage
better known; and to strengthen future partnerships for
World Heritage Conservation.
"The
World Heritage Convention is a noble, vital force in the
world, fostering peaceful coexistence and honouring our
past in equal measure with our future," says UNESCO
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.
The coveted
"world heritage" label is much more than a prestige
tag. It makes any site more popular, but also puts it
under international protection and facilitates efforts
by the country where it is located to raise international
funding for its conservation.
The World
Heritage Fund thus earmarks almost $4 million a year to
help States- Parties prepare the candidature of potential
sites, to send technical and expert missions to sites
and to provide emergency help for those hit by disaster.
Venice and
its lagoon, which has been a World Heritage site since
1987, provides the ideal setting to assess the evolution
of the Convention, whose importance is highlighted in
the
preamble which affirms
that "the deterioration or disappearance of any item
of cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful
impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the
world."
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More information:
World Heritage
2002
Contact: Lucía Iglesias Kuntz,
Bureau of Public Information (Editorial Section)
Tel: (+33) (0)1 45 68 17 02
E-mail: l.iglesias@unesco.org
Journalists
or audiovisual media who require film footage should contact
Carole Darmouni
Tel: (+33) (0) 1 45 68 17 38 or (+33) (0) 6 18 01 88 82
E-mail: c.darmouni@unesco.org
For photos
contact
Ariane Bailey
Tel: (+33) (0)1 45 68 16 86
E-mail: a.bailey@unesco.org
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