Expert meeting on the global state of conservation challenges for World Heritage properties

At its 33rd session (Seville, 2009), within the wider framework of the reflection on the Future of the World Heritage Convention, the World Heritage Committee embarked on a process to develop creative approaches that will assist States Parties and World Heritage site-managers in effectively responding to the range of problems that emerge from inscribed properties (Decision 33 COM 14A.2 ).

At its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010), the World Heritage Committee welcomed the offer by the Governments of Australia and Senegal to organize a 3-day expert meeting on strategies to address global state of conservation challenges, with a particular focus on Africa (Decision 34 COM 10D ).

The main objectives of this expert meeting will be to identify trends/themes in state of conservation reporting, to facilitate information sharing on management approaches to common problems, to consider what guidance is available to assist States Parties prevent and mitigate threats, and to discuss issues to include in policy approaches to common threats. The meeting aims at proposing improvements to the current processes and procedures used for the global state of conservation of World Heritage properties.

The meeting will contribute to understanding the main conservation issues at both the global and African levels, and how African World Heritage site-managers view possible trends; to developing guidance for a recommended policy development agenda on global recurring threats and to exploring the development of specific themes in state of conservation reporting in order to improve the rate of implementation of the Committee's decisions and thereby improving the state of conservation of properties. The report on the expert meeting, together with the proposed above-mentioned guidance will be presented to the World Heritage Committee at its 35th session in June 2011.

The State Party of Australia, in close cooperation with the State Party of Senegal and with the assistance of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in Dakar, will support this meeting in Dakar, Senegal from 13-15 April 2011 .

The meeting will take place at the Mériden Hotel, Dakar:

http://www.lemeridienpresidentdakar.com/