This panel explored emerging partnerships built on the realisation that in many cases, in Bonnie Burnham’s words, “the community is better at managing its own affairs than the government.”

Neil Cossons, Chairman of English Heritage, described the complex partnerships working to rehabilitate Stonehenge, a World Heritage site which was described in Parliamentary debate as a “national disgrace” because of poor visitor facilities and a landscape criss-crossed by two major roads. Now “Stonehenge is at a turning point, perhaps the most important point in its 6,000-year history,” Cossons said, thanks to a partnership joining English Heritage and the National Trust, the Ministry of Defence, and district and local authorities as well as residents. By diverting one of the roads, grassing over its route and building new visitor facilities away from the site, not to mention boring an underground road tunnel, the project, with a cost estimated at more than 350 million euros, will restore “the dignity of the land, the dignity of the stones,” Cossons said.

Karan Grover, President of India’s Heritage Trust, recounted efforts to “disinter time” at Champaner, an archaeological puzzle concealing layers of history including the Rajput era of the 10th to 15th centuries and the Islamic period from the 15th-17th centuries. The site has attracted a wide array of initiatives, spawning partnerships with six universities around the world, public interest litigation against nearby quarries and the creation of a Heritage Club for Children. Through such links, “we can band together, share information and initiate improvement,” Grover said.

Private-public partnerships were the subject of Gianfranco Imperatori’s contribution. The Secretary General of Italy’s Civita Association described the work of managing 78 public sites and museums throughout the country. “We are entrepreneurs looking at the questions of culture,” he said, adding that the experience Civita has had over the past ten years “augurs well for the future promotion and enhancement of Italy’s historical legacy.” Civita’s projects consider the entire context of a property, Imperatori said, to “give added value and a more competitive edge to the monument itself."

Alvise Zorzi, President of the Association of Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice, discussed the still thriving work of an organisation that arose from the world-famous UNESCO campaign to rescue the city of Venice from the devastating floods of 1966. Another wellspring of private-public partnerships, the association, under a UNESCO administrative framework, has been involved in the restoration of almost 100 monuments and 1,000 artworks. Its supervising architects direct projects “as if they were using state funds,” Zorzi said, “to guarantee that work is done according to standards. The private committees select the projects they want to finance, and can offer donors cost-effectiveness, tax exemption and the prestige of participating in a matter of public interest.”

The panel was chaired by Timothy Wirth, President of United Nations Foundation (UNF) who explained that Ted Turner established UNF five years ago to promote the work of the United Nations. “Since then UNF has shown how the Convention could be invigorated through partnerships and has given $32 million towards UNESCO World Heritage sites,” said Wirth. He invited participants to view a short film which highlighted UNF conservation partnerships at natural heritage sites such as the Galapagos, and sites of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Suriname and Cambodia. Despite the efforts for creating partnerships for conservation currently being made in conjunction with World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and others, Wirth asserted that “we have only scratched the surface of the Convention’s potential.”

Eddy Boutmans, Belgium's State Secretary for Development Cooperation, told the Congress: "When we decided to partner with UNESCO, we first thought of cultural programmes and cultural heritage. But gradually we discovered that finding ways to help developing countries protect their natural heritage was an important and effective way to work with UNESCO." He stressed the close link between poverty and environmental destruction. "Poverty is often a cause and a consequence of environmental damage," said Boutmans, noting that people in poor countries often must rely on activities such as hunting and logging to survive. The solution, he said, lay in linking poverty reduction with heritage conservation programmes, such as those currently under way in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Our partnership with UNESCO in the Congo should lead to more partnerships with local government, experts and local communities," Boutmans said. Just two weeks later, on November 28, Belgium and UNESCO signed a 750,000 euro cooperation agreement in Brussels under which space technology will be used to assess and monitor the state of conservation at World Heritage sites in developing countries, beginning with the five sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President of Conservation International (CI) Russell Mittermeir began his presentation with the proclamation that “World Heritage is not just a flagship program, but the most important mechanism available to us for biodiversity conservation.” “Unfortunately, he later said “World Heritage’s worth in biodiversity protection is a well-kept secret!” He argued that there is a need for World Heritage sites in “hotspots of outstanding biodiversity value” and suggested increasing cluster sites or serial nominations such as the Discovery Coast in Brazil as well as trans-boundary World Heritage site nominations. Mittermeir announced that CI’s Global Conservation Fund has pledged $100 million for biodiversity conservation over the next five years, and told participants that matches are still needed for the creation of trust funds. He also announced a three-year World Heritage partnership in which CI will match dollar for dollar with UNF for projects for long-term biodiversity conservation, up to $7.5 million. Mittermeir pointed towards the World Parks Congress in 2003 and the World Wilderness Congress in 2004 as landmark events to measure and present achievements of the partnership.

“Much of our work has included support for and partnerships with UNESCO World Heritage Centre,” said Bill Eichbaum, Vice-President of Endangered Spaces Program for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-US. “However, in spite of many organizations efforts in conjunction with UNESCO,” Eichbaum lamented “we are losing the battle to preserve our world’s biodiversity.” He said that “we need to identify critical places around the world to protect.” Explaining that the WWF strategy for biodiversity conservation is to operate on large scale projects and with a long-term commitment of at least 50 years, Eichbaum said that we need to reverse the trend in biodiversity loss during this decade and added that the “World Heritage program can be a vital part of that effort.” In his concluding remarks, Wirth referred to innovative multi-country and multi-site initiatives to prepare World Heritage nominations such as that being attempted for the Greater Rift Valley. He concluded by calling upon all to “set our sights high” in making optimal use of the World Heritage to conserve nature and biodiversity.”

Tim Whalen opened the panel with the observation that non-governmental actors come in many shapes and sizes, and that each “is good at something, but none is good at everything.” He said NGOs often help to leverage other resources, while they are often not equipped to handle certain tasks. With NGOs’ ever-growing importance, the need is to “better understand and coordinate our work.” He stressed the role of NGOs in bringing complementary funding to the resources available from the UNESCO World Heritage Fund.

Paolo Savona, President of the Consorzio Venezia Nuovo, made a special presentation of efforts over the past 20 years to battle the causes, rather than the symptoms, of Venice’s recurring malady of aqua alta, or flooding. He showed interventions to the three main tidal inlets to the city, the reinforcement of the coastline, the rebuilding of salt marshes -- essential to the ecological equilibrium of the lagoon, which is constantly eroded by the sea -- and the installation of mobile barriers. The Consorzio, he said, “is not limited to doing business. We also do culture. We have experience, but we also have passion: we are emotionally involved in the protection of Venice.”.

Conservation projects of the Aga Khan Trust, spanning the Muslim world from Zanzibar to Samarkand, “create interactive synergies” between conservation, rehabilitation and development, said Stefano Bianca, who directs the Trust’s Historic Cities Support Programme involving many actual and potential World Heritage sites. He said the Trust was building a repertoire of exemplary projects involving adaptive reuse by local communities in which rehabilitated structures become symbols of pride and generate needed economic resources. By operating directly at the grassroots level, the Trust’s projects “have a clear overlap between beneficiaries and project goals,” Bianca said.

Giulia Maria Crespi, President of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano, described FAI’s evolution from a foundation to an association with 52,000 members and 82 delegations in Italy, the setting up of a select group of wealthy sponsors who now number 560, and the newly formed American Friends of FAI. She discussed the fund’s work with civil society, which she said “is like yeast in the bread -- yeast isn’t seen but it makes bread rise.” She described how conservation projects often provide work in the communities surrounding the FAI’s properties

Silvia Finguerut of the Marinho Foundation of Brazil gave a spirited demonstration of the use of television to promote cultural heritage. “Some people are trying to sell cars and soap, and we sell culture,” she said as she screened a sample television clip. “We offer to our partners high visibility since we use the TV to promote their projects” including the restoration of monuments and the rehabilitation of historic districts, said Figuerut, who heads the Foundation’s Cultural Heritage Department.

The 7,000 professionals of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) are organised into scientific committees involved in the conservation of cultural properties on the World Heritage List. In the last few years, through an initiative known as Heritage @ Risk, ICOMOS has become a veritable Amnesty International for monuments and sites, signalling the dangers and threats they face, said President Michael Petzet. One project involves determining what to do with what is left of the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, which Petzet said “was a real chance to do something with our NGO.”

Finally, Eduard Sekler, Chairman Emeritus of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust described examples of successful rehabilitation work in Patan undertaken in cooperation with the UNESCO and the Nepalese Department of Archaeology. “The most heartening aspect of the Trust’s work is its demonstrative effect all over Patan. When the residents see the work, they are all willing to do the same.” A building restored on Patan’s Durbar Square is now a heritage education centre. The Trust urges local communities to contribute to the conservation and development process through voluntary work or small payments. “They must feel that they have a stake,” Sekler said.

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Natural Beauty, the largest private landowner in Britain, just celebrated its three millionth membership and includes five World Heritage sites, said Martyn Heighton, who is its Territory Director for Wales and the West of England. “With all that, it would be easy not to seek partnerships,” he joked. Amid mixed results, he said, one of the most successful has been that of Stonehenge, which involves the National Trust, English Heritage, the highways and local authorities as well as members of local communities, “some of whom don’t agree entirely but understand our thinking,” he said. “To have a successful partnership you have to recognise the needs of your stakeholders, members, donors and the government.”