Interview
John Reynolds
World Heritage Convention
John Reynolds was born when his father was a Park Ranger in Yellowstone National Park. He holds a master's degree in landscape architecture from the State University of Forestry at Syracuse University, New York.
In 1966, he began a career at the National Park Service (NPS) in the United States, where he worked for nearly 40 years in various roles: landscape architect, park planner and manager, program director, deputy director, etc. . He is recognized for having established sustainable environmental practices within parks. As Deputy Director of the NPS, he was a member of the United States World Heritage delegation from 1995 to 2001. During this period he attended meetings of the Committee and the Bureau, and provided technical assistance to determine the United States position on some of the issues discussed by the Committee.
Retired from the NPS since 2002, John Reynolds has continued to be involved with national parks through his involvement with the National Park Foundation, where he was vice-chairman from 2005 to 2007. He has sat on several committees and boards for various organizations, including the Presidio Trust, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Student Conservation Association. He holds the Distinguished Service Award from the US Department of the Interior. An article on the relevance of national parks to the centenary of the NPS in 2016: : «Whose America? Whose Idea? Making “America’s Best Idea” Reflect New American Realities», dans The George Wright Forum, 27/2 (2010), p. 125–134.
Interview with
John Reynolds
18 May 2011, Springfield, United States of America
The audio excerpts are from an interview with John Reynolds in Springfield, Virginia, by Christina Cameron the 18 May 2011. Among the most suggestive passages are Reynolds' memories of controversial inscription and management of some World Heritage sites such as Hiroshima or the Galapagos Islands. The interviewee also offers an interesting perspective on United States’ involvement in the Convention.
- 1. The World Heritage Convention
- 1a. Involvement and participation of John Reynolds in World Heritage
- 1b. Key Objectives of the World Heritage Convention
- 1c. The World Heritage List: Recognition and Management
- 1d. Decisions and decisive cases for the implementation of the Convention
- 1e. The successes and failures of the Convention
- 2. The World Heritage Committee
- 3. The advisory bodies
- 4. The UNESCO Secretariat
- 5. Conservation efforts by States Parties
Oral Archives of the
World Heritage Convention
Under the leadership of the Canada Research Chair on Built Heritage at the University of Montreal, an international team of researchers conducts interviews with pioneers of World Heritage to capture memories of important moments in the history of UNESCO Convention.
Launched in 2006, this initiative is part of the UNESCO History project that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the creation of UNESCO. The Oral Archives project records the precious witness of people closely associated with the creation and implementation of the Convention. Their recollections and views have greatly enriched the book by Christina Cameron and Mechtild Rössler, Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention (Ashgate/Routledge, 2013).
