Updating the Tentative List in Bangladesh

Objectives

A Tentative List is an inventory of those properties which each State Party to the World Heritage Convention considers to be cultural and/or natural heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List.

Bangladesh became a State Party to the World Heritage Convention in 1983. Its Tentative List comprising 5 sites dated back 1999 and had not been updated since then. Achieving further World Heritage nominations would require revising this outdated Tentative List.

The specific objectives of this project were to:

• re-examine the justification of the sites already part of the existing Tentative List;
• assess the potential Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity of new sites and carry out a comparative analysis for their inclusion in the revised Tentative List;
• describe their geographical location and coordinates as well as the tentative delineation of possible protective boundaries;
• document / update data concerning their state of conservation;
• raise awareness of local people and authorities about the implications of inscription of the sites on the World Heritage List through the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties and partners.

Results

An international expert reviewed the various thematic studies prepared by ICOMOS, and indicated 4 potential thematic areas of focus for the development of the Tentative List: cultural landscapes of water; places connected with the Silk Route; industrial heritage; cultural landscapes.

Then the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and the national and international experts reviewed the 5 sites already included in the Tentative List. Their conclusion was that 2 could remain but with modifications, 2 should be grouped together and the 5^th one should be part of a series.

In January 2020, the DoA organised a seminar on UNESCO’s Tentative List updating process for government officials, university teachers, NGO representatives and members of the civil society. After this seminar, all participants were requested to submit proposals for updating the Tentative List. One month later, 61 proposals had been received. After an initial analysis, the DoA and the experts retained 28 proposals. The DoA arranged a series of 9 online presentations and 4 webinars to gather data on these 28 sites and analyse them. Several ICOMOS experts were invited to attend. On the basis of these discussions, the DoA and the experts independently scored the proposals, which resulted in a short list of 11 sites.

The DoA organized 20 online meetings between June 2020 and February 2021 to thoroughly scrutinized these 11 sites. The draft Tentative List contained 10 proposals out of 11. Then the DoA arranged a total of 19 field visits for DoA Head Office officials, focal points and researchers. Some maps, drawings and layouts were also prepared for a better understanding of each site.

In parallel, for the proper management of the prospective future World Heritage sites through community participation, the DoA conducted 7 stakeholder meetings between September 2020 and February 2021. Local administration, public representative, important and honorable persons, college and university faculties, government officials, etc. were present at these meetings, which helped to not only create a knowledge base but also to gather more data about the sites, their history, authenticity, etc. Local level consultations along with consultations with ministerial levels also took place throughout the process.

After considering all comments and field data, and through extensive discussions with the project experts, the DoA prepared a final Tentative List of 7 sites, which was registered by the World Heritage Centre on 17 May 2023. Compared with the previous Tentative List, 2 sites have been retained but with modifications, one has been included in a series and the last 2 have been removed while 4 new sites have been included.