World Heritage 2002: Shared Legacy, Common Responsibility, the International Congress on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention was opened on November 14th at the Cini Foundation in Venice by Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO. In his speech, the Deputy Director-General of UNESCO reminded participants that the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2002 as the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage, which he called, "a valuable opportunity for UNESCO to deepen and extend international cooperation in the field of heritage protection and the promotion of cultural diversity." Speech available in PDF

Paolo Costa, Mayor of Venice, addressed the Congress with the dichotomy that, "It is a privilege but it is also a our duty to safeguard our cultural heritage." His speech emphasized that, "protecting our cultural heritage is protecting our identity."

Luigino Busatto, President of Province of Venice, proclaimed that "our focus should be on schools and young people." He pointed out that current curriculums are focused too much on the future. "We need to increase the focus on history and raise awareness of heritage values," he added. Busatto expressed his hope that the results of the Congress "will lead to new programs for young people, the citizens of tomorrow." Speech available in PDF

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Wole Soyinka delivered an impassioned keynote address which many participants heralded as "justifying the trip to Venice in itself". He asked participants if anyone can forget the Taliban and the destruction wrought upon the Buddhas of the Bamiyan Valley. "We tend to forget that this same type of threat is ever present," cautioned Soyinka. Giving examples of the clash between religious cultures in his homeland, Soyinka spoke of the destruction of Ibu homes in Nigeria as a "death sentence on traditional heritage" and how such destruction is becoming not only an environmental but a "cultural cleansing." Citing further examples of "Religious Storm Troopers" destroying cultural treasures in Cambodia, Yugoslavia and the Middle East, Soyinka concluded that, "there is a lesson in all of this that we must learn: Crimes against humanity tend to go hand in hand with the destruction of the victim's culture." He ended his address by asking participants to: "Think of what we may have lost in illumination." Speech available in PDF

In the second keynote address, Tamàs Fejérdy, Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, presented the June 2002 Budapest Declaration on World Heritage, which he said "provides the strategic framework for existing and new World Heritage partnerships at the present time and in the future." Specifically, strengthening the Credibility of the List, ensuring effective Conservation, promoting Capacity-building, and increasing public awareness, involvement and support through Communication. In "updating its strategic outlook," Fejerdy said that the Committee, "has given its commitment and expressed its will to cooperate and seek the assistance of all partners for the support of World Heritage." Speech available in PDF

Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, opened the second session on International Cooperation for World Heritage Conservation by pointing out that "Venice is the perfect place to hold this discussion because the city was preserved through international partnerships." Bouchenaki praised the Italian Government for its role in promoting cultural heritage and specifically the voluntary contribution it has made to UNESCO ($2.4 million), which helps to safeguard the heritage of other countries including the Stone Town of Zanzibar and the Medina of Fez.

Director General of the Cultural Promotion and Co-operation Directorate (DGPC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Francesco Aloisi de Larderel, reiterated that the protection of cultural heritage is an important component of Italian International Policy, and includes the belief that, "A better understanding of our common World Heritage should lead to a better respect of different cultures." He also suggested that the 1972 Convention provides a model for another kind of heritage protection. "Some of what we've learned in the past 30 years of protecting World Heritage can be incorporated into drafting a convention on intangible heritage," said Larderel.

Walter Erdelen, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Science, who co-chaired the session with Bouchenaki, stressed the importance of moving the focus of International Cooperation from individual sites to networks of sites and developing links between protected areas, such as seascapes and landscapes. He also inform the meeting that the Chairpersons of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and the World Heritage Committee would meet to reinforce the link between World Heritage and MAB programmes.

"The existing heritage delivery system is inadequate," said Christina Cameron, Director General, National Historic Sties Directorate, Parks Canada, "it needs to reposition itself in the international community." One way she suggests is through "altruistic marketing" such as publishing the In Danger List along with the costs of rehabilitation and conservation. "What would it take to convince you to choose to invest in World Heritage?" asked Cameron. "It contributes to the economy through regional development and tourism revenues, to biodiversity protection, to scientific research as natural laboratories, and they serve as unique instruments of peace as storehouses of memory for our world's natural and cultural heritage."

Francesco Francioni, Chair of International Law and Vice Rector of the University of Siena, discussed the impact the World Heritage Convention has had on international law, notably in bringing about a holistic approach to culture and nature. He noted that the Convention anticipated the tremendous development of international environmental law seen in the past two decades. Today, he said: "A common concern of humankind has emerged with regard to biodiversity and climate change that requires preventive action, both in treaty law and in soft law." Francioni called for "a contextual interpretation" of the Convention in modern terms, noting: "For example, in 1972 non-renewable resources were defined as things like mineral wealth, but today we have realised that living resources are exhaustible, like fish and water resources." He said there was an "overarching principle" of cooperation between states, which "is especially important in preventing dispersion and loss, which is today a big problem because of theft, looting, illicit trade in cultural property, and so on. … The duty to cooperate is really an obligation today. The State Party should not see that as merely an option."

The fourth session of the Congress addressed Enlarging the Circle of Partners and was chaired by José Maria Ballester, Director Culture, Cultural and Natural Heritage, Council of Europe. Using many case studies from historic cities, one of the largest thematic categories of World Heritage, the session focused on how partnerships can foster social and economic development. Defining collaborations between the Council of Europe and the World Heritage Centre as "always complementary," Ballester pointed out that it's a shared effort to enlarge the circle of partners. "On local, regional, national and international plans, the multiplicity of competence is becoming more and more important," he added. "What is the best way to protect heritage?, Why? And for whom?," asked Ballester. "This is a moment when we need to work together for conflict prevention by increasing our intercultural and inter-religious knowledge in order to promote cultural diversity," he answered. "Now cultural heritage can be a vector for economic development, especially in fragile societies."

Jaime Lerner, Governor of the State of Paraná in Brazil took a philosophical approach to partnerships, which was based on his long experience of both developing and implementing conservation policies for cities. "Enhancing heritage is a learning process," he said, "Learning to understand the problem is the key to preservation." Lerner told participants that thinking of cities as solidarity's last refuge is the best hope for their preservation. "It is possible to make positive changes in every city in the world in less than two years," claimed Lerner, "but we have to have political will, strategy and solidarity. It's not so much a question of funds as a question of co-responsibility."

Franco Passacantando, Dean of the Executive Board of The World Bank, explained the World Bank's action in cultural heritage as falling under two categories: 1) safeguarding policies, such as for prevention of damage to cultural sites; and 2) lending policies for cultural heritage, such as redevelopment of historical sites in rural areas, providing support to governments and private institutions. "The program is small but not insignificant," said Passacantando. Possibilities for future partnerships depend upon finding a balance between conservation and development; measuring economic and social returns; and both partners willing to compromise to reach results.

Jean Bakole from United Nations Habitat delivered a speech on behalf of Executive Director Anna Kajumolo Tibaijuka, emphasizing the necessity of converging environmental and social approaches to conservation efforts. He urged that the politics of social housing be present in cultural heritage protection plans for cities.

Yves Dauge, Member of the French Senate for the region of Indre & Loire and Mayor of the City of Chinon, animated the discussion by extolling the virtues of networking and decentralization. "We need to increase the engagement of States Parties," said Dauge, "but they need to be democratised so that we increase the involvement of regions and cities." Dauge pointed out that laws evolve with time, and often improve. "We need to evaluate the ways we implement laws," said Dauge. He recommended that each State Party to the World Heritage Convention evaluate the laws they have in place to protect the natural and cultural heritage in their own countries, and then share their knowledge and expertise with other countries.

A question and answer session followed the discussion, in which Francesco Bandarin, Director, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, asked Passacantando why in spite of the expressed commitment, the World Bank collaboration with UNESCO had not taken off. Passcantando answered that this was due to misconceptions that many shareholders have about World Heritage, but hoped that his speech would change their perspective. He suggested that the organisations should start with informal partnerships before launching formal ones. "A bottom-up approach could lead to more formal partnerships," said Passacantando.

The Mayor of Venice, Paolo Costa, opened the session with a discussion of his city's longstanding and complex relationship with tourists, who visit at a rate of 12 million per year. Given the unique geography of the city, it can just accommodate some 40,000 visitors a day, but "if it goes beyond that it becomes almost unbearable," Costa said, adding the warning: "Since it is so successful, tourism is shutting out other activities." If it became the only activity, he said, "that would be destroying the magic of Venice."

Speech available in PDF

Frances Cairncross, Management Editor of The Economist magazine and author of "Costing the Earth" and "Green Inc.", posed the question of assigning an economic value to heritage and culture. "It's hardest of all to value a beautiful view," she said. Cairncross suggested that the best solution to the tourism boom may be to "ration our heritage" by "using market forces to help rather than damage our beauty."

Corrado Clini, Director General of Italy's Ministry for the Environment, discussed ways in which partnerships between companies and environmental agencies can improve the quality of tourist destinations at the same time as they boost the economy, notably when they are guided by appropriate laws, best practices and voluntary agreements.

The search for equitable ways to distribute the benefits of tourism was the topic of Rili Hawari Djohani of Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago. Noting that half the world's population lives in coastal areas, she said that while the main reason for establishing marine World Heritage sites is to protect biodiversity, it is often difficult to explain their importance to local fishermen. Djohani, Director of the Nature Conservancy Coastal and Marine Indonesia Programme, described efforts to generate alternative economic benefits for displaced local communities.

Lota Melamari, the former Director General of Tanzania National Parks, focused on strengthening the role of the community in the management of heritage sites. A positive example is Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, he said. Melamari also lamented the relative underdevelopment of African heritage, with only 53 World Heritage sites inscribed so far. In a similar vein, Dawson Munjeri of Zimbabwe, a cultural heritage management expert, said that despite expectations that the idea of cultural landscapes would improve the regional balance of the World Heritage List, most cultural landscapes so far inscribed are in Europe, which has the most overall sites as well.

Finally, Eugenio Yunis, Head of Sustainable Development of Tourism at the World Tourism Organisation, discussed the need for the "wise management" of tourism flows. Heritage has value by being used, he noted, "but only if it is used in a reasonable and sustainable manner." He proposed the designation of ever larger areas - even entire regions -- for World Heritage protection.


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