Sub-regional celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in West Africa
Theme: the next 50 years - World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation
Sub-theme: youth engaged with World Heritage site managers in West Africa for innovative actions
Organisers
UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa-Sahel in close collaboration with the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for West Africa in Abuja and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
In Collaboration with
- Ministry of Culture and Historical Heritage of Senegal
- Ministry of the Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition of Senegal
- Université Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis
- International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural
- Property (ICCROM) through the Youth.Heritage.Africa program
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- African World Heritage Fund (AWHF)
- School of African Heritage (EPA)
On 9 and 10 November 2022, the city of Saint-Louis in Senegal will host the sub-regional celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. To mark this global anniversary, officially celebrated on 16 November 2022, a series of events is being held around the world under the theme: "The Next 50".
West Africa is no exception and is joining the movement by organizing a high-level meeting in this historic city based on the topic: "youth committed to innovative actions alongside World Heritage site managers in West Africa". Fruitful discussions will be on the agenda, through panels and round tables focusing on current challenges such as climate change and heritage preservation, digital transformation, post COVID-19 recovery or sustainable tourism. These exchanges will bring together in a hybrid format more than 100 young people and site managers from the whole region.
A meeting not to be missed that will continue with two side events. The first will be a debate on the management and conservation issues faced by two heritage sites located close to the event: the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, inscribed on the List in 1981, and the island of Saint-Louis, inscribed in 2000. The discussions will bring together young people, including students in heritage professions of the Gaston Berger University, associations and actors and professionals of Saint-Louis heritage. The second side event will be a visit to the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary to discuss the challenges of this protected area and the main recommendations of the last reactive monitoring mission conducted by the World Heritage Centre and IUCN in February 2022.
This West African celebration is a unique opportunity to highlight the progress made over the past fifty years and to promote good practices in the region for the conservation and valorisation of world heritage. The objective is to call on the younger generations, communities, and the world to commit and act in favour of the protection and conservation of world heritage and thus encourage the inscription of new sites. For UNESCO, strengthening the commitment of young people is crucial if we want to achieve our goals and ensure this rich heritage will be well protected and passed on to future generations.
This initiative is carried out by the UNESCO office for West Africa Sahel (Dakar) with the support of the UNESCO office in West Africa (Abuja) and the World Heritage Centre, in collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the network of World Heritage site managers, the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Senegal, the Directorate of National Parks of Senegal, the Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA), the Senegalese National Commission for UNESCO, and the Université Gaston Berger. It is part of a global initiative for the celebration of the half-century of World Heritage.
Related links
- 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
- Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)
- Application Vue d’Afrique
Contacts
UNESCO Office in Dakar
- Adèle Nibona, Regional Advisor for Culture for West Africa-Sahel: a.nibona@unesco.org
- Moussa Wele : m.wele@unesco.org
- Théodore Somda: tz.somda@unesco.org
Concept note
Senegal
Saint-Louis in Senegal