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Category 2 Centres (LAC)

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The Category 2 Centres for World Heritage were created in order to assist and support the State Parties of the three LAC sub-regions to implement the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Two centres have been created with this purpose:

Lucio Costa Centre (CLC), Rio de Janeiro

The Lucio Costa Regional Training Centre in Cultural Heritage Management was created to support and assist Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in South America, Africa and Asia in the implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

The Centre was created to support the World Heritage Centre in the promotion of training and research activities to contribute to the implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention. The Centre's programmes and activities focus on training and the dissemination of best practices in the heritage management area based on the universal message of the Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 as its main reference point. The Centre provides assistance to countries in the Region for the creation or strengthening of national capacities in the field of heritage management and to allow other direct stakeholders to participate in initiatives related to heritage.

As a follow up of the new strategy for Category 2 Centres adopted by the General Conference, an evaluation was undertaken and a new agreement was signed with the Government of Brazil on 13 June 2018

Main Objectives

  • Contribute to achieving United Nations Millennium Development Goals;
  • Build capacity for heritage management in the Region;
  • Act as a reference centre for education, research and training and a platform for networking and skills in the field of heritage through projects, programmes and courses;
  • Develop a knowledge base on conservation, preservation, management, supervision, theoretical and applied research and education in the field of heritage;
  • Contribute to methodology developments for the conservation, preservation and management of heritage;
  • Promote and enable a global network of institutions and organizations concerned with education and research with a view to identifying substantiated solutions to problems facing heritage management;
  • Promote entrepreneurship in a university context
  • Sharing specialist expertise with UNESCO, in particular with the World Heritage Centre, and cooperating with UNESCO's intergovernmental committees in the field of heritage, as well as other institutions.

Regional World Heritage Institute in Zacatecas (RWHIZ), Zacatecas

The Centre was created to support and assist Mexico and the Member States of Central America and the Caribbean in the implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

The Centre complies with the relevant provisions of the Operational Guidelines, including those relating to the Global Strategy for a representative, balanced and credible World Heritage List, with an emphasis placed on the importance of regional studies and initiatives, and the need to support the process of regular reporting in order to "create a mechanism for regional cooperation and exchange of information and experience among State Parties on the implementation of the Convention and the conservation of World Heritage". It also contributes to the application of an International Training Strategy on World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Helsinki, 2001), which the World Heritage Committee believes is one of the main ways of achieving the strategic objective of "capacity-building" adopted in the 26th meeting of the Committee, held in Budapest in 2002.

As a follow up of the new strategy for Category 2 Centres adopted by the General Conference, an evaluation was undertaken and a new agreement with the Government of Mexico will be signed in 2021

Main Objectives

  • Help to strengthen capacity-building for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Region;
  • Contribute to the strengthening of international cooperation, especially among Member States of the Region;
  • Contribute to sustainable development through sound management of natural and cultural heritage;
  • Promote research on cultural and natural heritage, in particular for the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.
  • Contribute to the creation and dissemination of information through the establishment of a documentation centre dealing with the properties on the World Heritage List in the Region;
  • Share specialist expertise with UNESCO, in particular with the World Heritage Centre, and cooperate with Secretariats of other UNESCO cultural conventions related to heritage.

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In order to facilitate discussion and collaboration for the development and monitoring of programmes, discussion groups have been created for both centres (limited access to members).

Other activities 1
Strategic objectives
Credibility
Communities
Conservation
Capacity Building
Communication
States parties 2
Dates
Date Start: Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Date end: Monday, 1 July 2013
Decisions / Resolutions (9)
Code: 39COM 10B.4

The World Heritage Committee,

  1. Having examined document WHC-15/39.COM/10B,
  2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 10B.4 adopted at the 38th session (Doha, 2014);
  3. Takes note of the progress accomplished in the follow-up activities of the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting for Latin America and the Caribbean and encourages the States Parties of the region to continue their efforts in the implementation of its recommendations;
  4. Notes with appreciation the elaboration of the two sub-regional Action Plans for the Caribbean and for South America;
  5. Further notes with appreciation the support of the Government of Peru for the organization of the sub-regional meeting for the elaboration of the World Heritage Action Plan for South America (Cuzco, 5 to 7 May 2015);
  6. Encourages Central American States Parties to work in close coordination with the World Heritage Centre to organize a meeting for the establishment of a sub-regional Action Plan with the participation of all stakeholders;
  7. Encourages Mexico and Brazil to continue their efforts in view to consolidate the establishment of the UNESCO category 2 centres for World Heritage in Zacatecas (Mexico) and in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil);
  8. Reminds States Parties which have not already done so to submit their Retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value by 1 February 2016 at the latest, as well as clarifications of boundaries by 1 December 2015 at the latest;
  9. Takes note that, in conformity with Decision 38 COM 10B.4, the World Heritage Centre will provide a report on the progress made in the implementation of the regional and sub-regional Action Plans at its 40th session in 2016.

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Code: 38COM 10B.4

The World Heritage Committee,

  1. Having examined document WHC-14/38.COM/10B,
  2. Recalling Decision 37COM 10A adopted at the 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
  3. Congratulates the States Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean region for their efforts to continue follow-up actions to the exercise of the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise for Latin America and the Caribbean, and adopts the 2014-2024 regional Action Plan;
  4. Notes with appreciation the support of the Government of Brazil and the National Institute for Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) in organizing the regional meeting “Towards defining an Action Plan for World Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean”, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO Office in Brasilia, the Advisory Bodies and the category 2 centres of the Region;
  5. EncouragesStates Parties and all other World Heritage partners and stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean to cooperate actively to ensure the implementation of the Action Plan,  which reflects regional priorities to include, but not limited to, education and public awareness, disaster risk management, integrated heritage management, and sustainable tourism in World Heritage properties;
  6. Calls upon the States Parties from the Region to support the implementation of the 2014-2024 Action Plan and also encourages them to provide technical and financial resources at national level for its implementation;
  7. Further encourages States Parties to continue working, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, Advisory Bodies and the Region’s category 2 centres, to develop sub-regional action plans, based on the Action Plan and taking into consideration and building upon the achievements of the previous plan with a focus on the specific needs of each sub-region;
  8. Acknowledges the progress made by the States Parties of Mexico and Brazil in effectively establishing the UNESCO category 2 centre for the World Heritage in Zacatecas, Mexico, as well as the UNESCO Lucio Costa category 2 centre of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and strongly encourages them to continue their efforts in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, States Parties and Advisory Bodies to initiate a capacity-building programme for the management and conservation of World Heritage in the region;
  9. Also calls upon States Parties from other regions to support the efforts of the Latin American and the Caribbean Region in implementing the Action Plan, in the spirit of the international cooperation promoted by the World Heritage Convention;
  10. Reminds States Parties which have not already done so to submit their Retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value by 1 February 2015 at the latest, as well as clarifications of boundaries by 1 December 2014 at the latest;
  11. Requests the World Heritage Centre to provide information on the progress made in the implementation of the regional Action Plan and sub-regional action plans at its 40th session in 2016.

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Code: 37COM 10A

The World Heritage Committee,

1.  Having examined document WHC-13/37.COM/10A,

2.  Recalling Decisions 32 COM 11D, 34 COM 10B.2, 35 COM 10B and 36 COM 10C adopted respectively at its 32nd (Quebec City, 2008), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011) and 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012) sessions,

3.  Expresses its sincere appreciation to the States Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean for their efforts in preparing and submitting their Periodic Reports and thanks especially all focal points and site managers for their effective participation and commitment;

4.  Notes with satisfaction that all the 32 States Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean have participated actively in the Periodic Reporting exercise and 29 Section I questionnaires and 122 Section II questionnaires were successfully submitted;

5.  Reiterates its satisfaction that at the moment of the launching of the second cycle, 116 draft retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value were submitted and welcomes the final submission of 66 Statements for adoption by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session;

6.  Thanks the authorities of Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic and Mexico for their support in successfully organizing regional and sub-regional meetings, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and UNESCO field offices;

7.  Takes note of the successful use of the special electronic platform as an indispensable tool in providing the comprehensive documentation, gathered in the World Heritage Centre database for future monitoring and follow-up of the Action Plan and acknowledges the importance of this tool in developing the thematic working groups and their related programmes;

8.  Welcomes with satisfaction the synthesis report and endorses the proposal to develop the Action Plan to be submitted to the World Heritage Committee at its 38th session for evaluation;

9.  Requests the World Heritage Centre to develop the above-mentioned Action Plan, in collaboration with the States Parties of the region, the Advisory Bodies, the focal points, site managers and the World Heritage related-Category 2 Centres in the region and other partners;

10.  Also takes note of the significant progress made concerning the Retrospective Inventory for the region, both in terms of clarification of boundaries and minor boundary modifications and also requests the States Parties to continue participating actively in this regard, especially when clarifications or modifications of boundaries have been requested by the World Heritage Committee in relation to the evaluation of the state of conservation of the respective properties;

11.  Also thanks the Government of Spain for financing the translation of the Report containing the results of the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting into Spanish, further requests the World Heritage Centre to widely disseminate the Report among all stakeholders in the region, encourages the publication of the report in the World Heritage Papers series and calls on the international community to support the request;

12.  Decides that the significant modifications to boundaries and changes to criteria (re-nominations) requested by States Parties as a follow-up to the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting Exercise will not fall within the limit of two nominations per State Party per year imposed by Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines , while they will still fall within the overall limit of forty-five complete nominations per year. This decision shall apply for the 1 February 2014 and 1 February 2015 deadlines for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, after which time the normal limit established in Paragraph 61 will be resumed;

13.  Encourages the States Parties and all other World Heritage partners and stakeholders, including the UNESCO Category 2 Centres in the Region, to actively cooperate and to take the necessary actions to follow-up, in a concerted and concrete manner, towards the development of the Action Plan;

14.  Also encourages UNESCO Category 2 Centre for World Heritage of Zacatecas (Mexico) and the UNESCO Category 2 Centre Lucio Costa of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for heritage management, when appropriate, to coordinate their activities and the development of learning tools in Portuguese and Spanish to implement the capacity-building strategy and associated programmes, also welcomes the establishment of an observatory for heritage management foreseen in Brazil, and calls for a close cooperation with the Caribbean Capacity building Programme (CCBP);

15.  Recognizes the valuable role played by local communities, including indigenous peoples, in the management of cultural and natural heritage properties and further encourages programmes at Latin America and the Caribbean World Heritage properties to also focus on the active involvement and participation of the local communities in their implementation and derivation of direct benefits;

16.  Also calls on the States Parties to cooperate with technical and financial resources at the national level to implement the Action Plan, and on the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to provide support for its implementation.

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Code: 36COM 6

1.   Having examined document WHC-12/36.COM/6,

2.   Recalling Decisions 34 COM 9C and 35 COM 6 adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010) and 35th session (Paris, 2011) respectively,

3.   Welcomes the establishment of two new category 2 centres related to World Heritage in Spain and Italy, as well as the progress made by all category 2 centres towards the establishment of their system of governance and the implementation of their activities;

4.   Thanks the International Research Centre on the Economics of Culture and World Heritage Studies (Turin, Italy) for having hosted the second annual coordination meeting of category 2 centres related to World Heritage;

5.   Requests all category 2 centres related to World Heritage to ensure that their strategies, programmes and activities are directly contributing to the goals and objectives of the World Heritage Strategy for Capacity-Building and in general to actions agreed in the framework of World Heritage statutory processes at global and regional levels, notably those resulting from decisions by the World Heritage Committee, by the General Assembly of States Parties and from the outcomes of periodic reporting exercises;

6.   Further requests the World Heritage Centre to submit a progress report on the activities of the category 2 centres related to World Heritage for examination by the Committee at its 37th session in 2013.

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Code: 36COM 9B

The World Heritage Committee,

1.   Having examined Document WHC-12/36.COM/9B;

2.   Recalling Decisions 34 COM 9C and 35 COM 9B adopted at its 34th (Brasilia, 2010) and 35th (UNESCO, 2011) sessions respectively;

3.   Takes note of the progress made on the implementation of the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy (WHCBS) by a variety of capacity building stakeholders;

4.   Thanks the State Party of Switzerland for its continued support to the on-going IUCN-ICCROM World Heritage Capacity Building Initiative;

5.   Welcomes the proposed new international capacity building programme;

6.   Requests the Advisory Bodies, the World Heritage Centre, and the UNESCO Category 2 Centres and relevant UNESCO Chairs to assist States Parties in the development of regional capacity building programmes which are based on the outcomes of the Periodic Reporting exercises and the WHCBS;

7.   Requests the World Heritage Centre, in coordination with the Advisory Bodies and Category 2 centres, to continue providing an inventory of heritage training centres in all regions with a view to sharing experience and expertise;

8.   Encourages States Parties and the international community to support both the international capacity building programme and the regional capacity building programmes as they are developed and put into implementation;

9.   Also requests ICCROM, in consultation with IUCN, ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre, to report on the progress made in the implementation of the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy (WHCBS) for examination by the Committee at its 37th session in 2013. 

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Code: 18GA 10

The General Assembly,

1. Having examined Documents WHC-11/18.GA/10 and WHC-11/18.GA/INF.10,

2. Recalling Decision 35 COM 6 adopted by the World Heritage Committee at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011),

3. Thanks the Government of Bahrain for having hosted the first meeting of World Heritage related category 2 centres and of relevant UNESCO Chairs and Higher Education and Research Institutions;

4. Takes note of the report on this meeting, as well as of the reports on the World Heritage related category 2 centres in Bahrain, Brazil, China, Mexico, Norway and South Africa;

5. Also takes note that an updated report of activities of the World Heritage related category 2 centres will be presented for examination at the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2012.

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Code: 35COM 10B

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-11/35.COM/10B,

2. Recalling decisions 28 COM 16, 7 EXT.COM 5E, 29 COM 5, 30 COM 11E, 32 COM 11D and 34 COM 10B.2 adopted respectively at its 28th session (Suzhou, 2004), 7th extraordinary session (UNESCO, 2004), 29th session (Durban, 2005), 30th session (Vilnius 2006), 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008) and 34th session (Brasilia, 2010),

3. Takes note of the progress achieved in the follow-up to the first cycle of Periodic Reporting in the Latin America and Caribbean region, as well as the results of activities in preparation for the launching of its second cycle, and in particular of the sub-regional workshops organized in Zacatecas (Mexico), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Bridgetown (Barbados);

4. Welcomes the financial collaboration for the Periodic Reporting exercise offered by the Spanish Funds-in-Trust for World Heritage, Category 2 centres and States Parties and encourages them to continue to provide assistance for the implementation of the process;

5. Commends the States Parties of the Region for their achievements in the submission of the draft retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value before the official launching of the Periodic Reporting exercise as requested in Decision 31 COM 11D.1;

6. Decides to launch the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting in the Latin American and Caribbean region and requests the States Parties to actively participate in this process;

7. Welcomes the creation of the web platform for the follow-up and implementation of the Periodic Reporting exercise and encourages the World Heritage Centre, States Parties, Category 2 centres, Advisory Bodies and other concerned partners to explore all the opportunities that this tool can provide for communication and coordination;

8. Also requests States Parties of the Latin American and Caribbean region and the Advisory Bodies to complete the review process for the retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 36th session in 2012;

9. Notes with satisfaction the results already achieved and also requests the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to continue providing assistance to the States Parties in the Latin American and Caribbean region in the framework of the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting;

10. Further requests the World Heritage Centre to keep it informed of progress achieved in the Periodic Reporting exercise at its 36th session in 2012.

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Code: 35COM 12A

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-11/35.COM/12A,

2. Recalling Decisions 32 COM 10 adopted at its 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008), 33 COM 14A.2 adopted at its 33rd session (Seville, 2009), 34COM 12 adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010) and Resolution 17 GA 9 adopted at the 17th General Assembly of States Parties (UNESCO, 2009),

3. Notes that the World Heritage Convention is fast approaching a number of important milestones, including its 40th anniversary in 2012, the potential inscription of the 1000th property to the World Heritage List, and near universal ratification and that it is therefore appropriate to reflect on the successes of the Convention and on how it can best evolve to meet emerging challenges;

4. Recognizes the ongoing open-ended and inclusive participation of States Parties, Advisory Bodies, various UNESCO related institutions, programmes and networks, and non-governmental organizations in promoting and implementing the World Heritage Convention, including in relation to the transparent process of reflection on the future directions of the Convention;

5. Also notes that documents relating to the process of reflection on the future of the World Heritage Convention continue to be available for States Parties and other interested organizations at https://whc.unesco.org/en/futureoftheconvention/;

6. Also recalling that a consultative body was established under Rule 20 of its Rules of Procedure, and welcomes the progress made on the reflection on the future of the Convention at the Committee's 35th session (UNESCO Headquarters, 2011);

7. Expresses its appreciation to States Parties, Advisory Bodies, UNESCO Category 2 Centres specializing in cultural and natural heritage, and non-governmental organizations for their written submissions on the overall framework and particular activities that could be contained within the Strategic Action Plan, as well as the Draft Vision;

8. Takes note of the positive progress made in developing the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision to guide the implementation of the World Heritage Convention over the decade 2012-2022 and the need to continue to reflect on the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision as well as the activities to be described within the Strategic Action Plan;

9. Requests the Chair of the Consultative Group and the World Heritage Centre to expeditiously streamline and further refine the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision, taking into account the discussions at the 33rd, 34th and 35th sessions of the World Heritage Committee, written submissions received, as well as the discussions at the 17th General Assembly of States Parties;

10. Decides to transmit the streamlined and refined draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision to the 18th session of the General Assembly of States Parties for consideration;

11. Notes the independent evaluation of the Global Strategy and PACT initiative, and in particular its recommendations (Document WHC-11/35.COM/INF.9A) to be transmitted to the 18th session of the General Assembly of States Parties for careful examination and reflection and requests the World Heritage Centre to seek written comments from States Parties on this document expeditiously for distribution on the World Heritage Centre website at https://whc.unesco.org/en/futureoftheconvention/

12. Also notes the need to develop an Implementation Plan to operationalise the priorities detailed in the Draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision, as well as priorities for international assistance as outlined in paragraph 235 of the Operational Guidelines, and further requests the World Heritage Centre to work with the Advisory Bodies to develop a draft Implementation Plan, including potential sources of funding for actions included within it, for consideration by the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee (2012), drawing upon inter alia the external audits on the implementation of the Global Strategy from its inception in 1994 to 2011 and the Partnership for Conservation Initiative (PACT), other existing strategy documents (such as the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy and the Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy), as well as the recommendations of the expert working group meetings held on:

  • the global state of conservation challenges for World Heritage properties (Dakar, Senegal, 13-15 April 2011),
  • decision-making procedures of the statutory organs of the World Heritage Convention (Manama, Bahrain, 15-17 December 2010),
  • improvements to 'upstream processes' prior to consideration of nominations by the World Heritage Committee (Phuket, Thailand, 27-29 April 2010),
  • the relationship between the World Heritage Convention, conservation and sustainable development (Paraty, Brazil, 29-31 March 2010);

13. Recommends the 18th session of the General Assembly takes note of documents WHC-11/35.COM/12A, WHC-11/35.COM/12B, WHC-11/35.COM/12C, WHC-11/35.COM/12D and WHC-11/35.COM/INF.7C, as part of a summary of the work undertaken in relation to the reflection on the future of the Convention.

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Code: 34COM 10B.2

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-10/34.COM/10B,

2. Recalling Decisions 28 COM 16 adopted at its 28th session (Suzhou, 2004), 7 EXT.COM 5E adopted at its 7th extraordinary session (UNESCO, 2004), 29 COM 5 adopted at its 29th session (Durban, 2005) and 32 COM 11D adopted at its 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008),

3. Takes note of the information provided on the progress made in the implementation of the Decisions for the follow-up to the Periodic Reporting in Latin America and the Caribbean and the preparation for the second cycle of the Periodic Report exercise;

4. Acknowledges the financial and technical collaboration provided by the Spanish Funds-in-Trust (SFIT) for the follow-up of the Periodic Reporting exercise, and encourages the SFIT to continue its efforts towards the World Heritage conservation;

5. Welcomes the financial collaboration for the Periodic Reporting exercise, offered by UNESCO Field Offices and Category 2 Centres, and also encourages them to continue providing assistance for the implementation of the process;

6. Thanks the States Parties hosting the meetings for their commitment in the preservation of World Heritage and the implementation of the World Heritage Convention;

7. Calls upon the States Parties, the World Heritage Centre and all the other stakeholders involved in the protection and conservation of natural and cultural heritage of the region, to ensure the necessary financial and human resources to implement the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise;

8. Requests the States Parties, to submit the required retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value to the World Heritage Centre by 31 July 2010, in order to guarantee the appropriate implementation of the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise as requested by Decision 31 COM 11D.1;

9. Also requests the States Parties, in coordination with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, to submit the Action Plan 2011 -2013 and to prepare a progress report on the implementation of the Second Cycle Latin America and the Caribbean Periodic Reporting for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 35th session in 2011.

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