Qatar Fund for Development renews its commitment to support UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund

This contribution is part of the state of Qatar’s commitment to support the Heritage Emergency Fund over multiple years. It will support efforts to safeguard cultural heritage pre and post-disasters and conflicts; preventing, mitigating, and recovering the loss of cultural heritage and diversity in emergencies.

“The UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund has supported 79 countries to assess, secure, and safeguard heritage at risk, and promote cultural life and creativity. By protecting culture, the Fund is a critical tool for UNESCO to deploy rapid preparedness and response activities in time of crisis, contributing to social cohesion and supporting communities in building their resilience. In this regard, I wish to acknowledge the commitment of Qatar over the years and welcome its renewed contribution. I would also like to take the opportunity to invite other partners to join our actions in supporting UNESCO during the year 2023”, stated Ernesto Ottone R., Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO.

“With the rise of conflict and disasters, the world is not only losing the unique records of our past of significant historical, aesthetic, and scientific value, but we are losing an excellent opportunity to leverage essential resources for sustainable development in many societies where the preservation of cultural heritage helps the solidarity of communities post wars and disasters and supports the reconstruction and resilience of the affected society. We are confident that with this contribution, we will play a role in safeguarding the cultural heritage that is in danger of being lost forever due to disasters, conflicts, and neglect.” Mr. Sultan Al-Aseeri, Deputy-Director General of Projects at QFFD.

The Heritage Emergency Fund is a multi-donor and non-earmarked funding mechanism, established by UNESCO in 2015 to enable the Organization to respond quickly and effectively to crises resulting from armed conflicts and disasters caused by natural and human-made hazards all over the world. UNESCO works to achieve this objective by strengthening the ability of Member States to prevent, mitigate and recover the loss of cultural heritage and diversity in emergencies and by advocating for the incorporation of the protection of culture into humanitarian action, security strategies and peace-building processes, including by harnessing the potential of culture to strengthen resilience and support recovery.

Other donors that support the Heritage Emergency Fund include Canada, Norway, the Republic of France, the Principality of Monaco, ANA Holdings Inc., the Republic of Estonia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Principality of Andorra, the Republic of Serbia, and other individual donors.