Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre meets team from the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD)

The Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre has met with the team from the European Bank for Reconstruction and exchanged views on heritage impact assessments related to World Heritage properties, especially for consultations on cultural heritage within ESIA processes. Participants from the EBRD included Debbie Cousins, Team Leader for Environmental and Sustainability; Elizabeth Smith, Senior Environmental and Stakeholder Engagement Advisor; Nobuko Ichikawa, Principal Environmental Advisor; and June Taboroff, Senior Cultural Resource Specialist and EBRD consultant.

“It is important to assist States Parties and share experiences of best practice related to impacts on the outstanding universal value of properties, especially at an early stage,” underlined the Director.

The EBRD team, which is also meeting with ICOMOS International, welcomed the dialogue and appreciated the in-depth consideration of specific cases.