Interview
Raymond Wanner
World Heritage Convention
Ray Wanner is a retired American diplomat. He holds a PhD in History of Education and Comparative Education from the University of Pennsylvania and worked for the United States State Department for thirty years, from 1972 to 2002.
During this period he was part of the United States Permanent Delegation to UNESCO in Paris until the country withdrew from the organization in 1984. He then became responsible for UNESCO files at the State Department in Washington until he retired from the federal public service in 2002. He then became Senior Advisor to the United Nations Foundation, working closely with the World Heritage Centre to pursue one of the major goals of the Foundation, namely conservation of biodiversity.
Throughout his career, Ray Wanner has had a strong interest in international education systems, published several articles on the subject, and actively participated in the work of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), of which he was President. He is also an Emeritus Member of the Board of Directors of Americans for UNESCO. In 2015, he published UNESCO’s Origins, Achievements, Problems and Promise: An Inside/Outside Perspective from the US (Comparative Education Research Center, Hong Kong University). Ray Wanner received the Career Achievement Award from the Secretary of State and the UNESCO Human Rights Medal for his commitment to international intellectual cooperation.
Interview with
Raymond Wanner
18 May 2011, Springfield, United States of America
The following audio excerpts are from an interview with Ray Wanner by Christina Cameron the 18 May 2011 in Springfield, Virginia. Having attended nearly 20 sessions of the Committee during his career, he recounts several key moments in the history of the Convention from the perspective of the United States, including the inscription of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial or the efforts to prevent mining in Yellowstone. He also gives an informed look at the politicization of the World Heritage Committee and calls for a return to the founding ideals of the Convention.
- 1. The World Heritage Convention
- 1a. Raymond Wanner's involvement and role in World Heritage
- 1b. Key Objectives of the World Heritage Convention
- 1c. The World Heritage List
- 1d. Decisions having influenced the implementation of the Convention
- 1e. Successes and failures of the Convention
- 2. The World Heritage Committee
- 3. Advisory bodies: the performance of IUCN and ICOMOS
- 4. UNESCO Secretariat
- 5. Conservation efforts of 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).
