UNESCO launches World Heritage capacity-building series in South-East Asia
The UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok) in cooperation with UNESCO Jakarta is launching a capacity-building series as a follow-up to the World Heritage Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting (2018–2024) exercise for Asia-Pacific. Within South-East Asia, the capacity-building focus will be expressly related to two issues as highlighted in the World Heritage Regional Framework Action Plan:
- Updating and harmonizing Tentative Lists (in 2024, conducted by UNESCO Bangkok)
- Strengthening World Heritage nominations (in 2025, conducted by UNESCO Jakarta)
The capacity-building activity aims to enhance the capability of South-East Asian States Parties to identify and nominate future World Heritage sites, with the following impacts:
- Maximizing the use of the Tentative List tool as a strategic planning mechanism to identify, inventory and prioritize sites
- Optimizing the success of future nomination efforts
- Promoting transnational cooperation on identification and nomination of possible future sites
The first training activity of the 'Tentative List Updating and Harmonization for South-East Asia' will be conducted in Bangkok from 27 to 30 August 2024. With over 50 participants joining from all South-East Asian countries – including World Heritage focal points and UNESCO National Commissions – the training activity will cover both natural and cultural heritage. Experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and others will mentor the workshop.
The activity will kick off with an open-access webinar, ‘Roadmap for World Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region: Emerging Priorities, Innovative Tools’, on 27 August 2024, 14:00 – 16:30, Bangkok time (UTC+7). The webinar, accessible throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, will feature an overview of current World Heritage issues, among them:
- World Heritage Regional Framework Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific by Himalchuli Gurung, Asia-Pacific Unit Chief, World Heritage Centre
- Policy on Climate Change and Associated Capacity-Building Toolkit by Jyoti Hosagrahar, Deputy Director, World Heritage Centre
- New World Heritage Tools: Impact Assessments and Enhancing our Heritage Toolkit 2.0 by Eugene Jo, Programme Manager, ICCROM
- Updates in the Operational Guidelines including Preliminary Assessment and Nomination Procedures by Tiago Faccioli Lopes, Associate Project Officer, World Heritage Centre
Registration by ZOOM conferencing for the webinar is now open. Please click here to register.
For further information, please contact Culture Unit, UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok: culture.bgk@unesco.org
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