World Heritage Global Strategy in South Asia

UNESCO New Delhi and the Ministry of Tourism, West Bengal Government (India), in support of the Archaeological Survey of India, are organizing a sub-regional conference World Heritage Global Strategy in the context of South Asia on 21 and 22 February 2019 in Kolkata.

The Global Strategy, launched in 1994 by the World Heritage Committee, has the aim to ensure that the List reflects the world’s cultural and natural diversity of the whole humanity.  The objectives of the Conference is to go through the current World Heritage List of the State Parties such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and identify the gap while exploring potential of the Region and what the Region can offer in the context of World Heritage Global Strategy. The Conference is expected to reinforce the capacity of the South Asia’s State Parties in the implementation of World Heritage Convention.

The first day includes a question and answer session entitled Everything you want to know about World Heritage, providing a unique opportunity for the State Parties of South Asia to interact directly with World Heritage experts who will provide first-hand answers to various questions related to World Heritage.

The second day of the Conference is designed by thematic approach to address four under-represented heritage categories in South Asia‘s World Heritage, namely, Cultural Landscape, Historic Town, Heritage Routes, and Industrial Heritage. World-renowned experts will make an introduction on each of the aforementioned categories, but also share aspects that are crucial to take into account when considering heritage sites under these categories. This Thematic debate will greatly facilitate State Parties of the Region in their identification of potential heritage sites, as well as in the revision of the Tentative List.

The Kolkata Conference is jointly organized by UNESO New Delhi and West Bengal Government of India.