Capacity Building and cooperation for World Heritage in Africa
The commitment of the Government of China to support UNESCO in safeguarding the World Heritage in Africa started in 2014, with a focus on preventing negative impacts of mining activities in African countries on the conservation of cultural and natural heritage.
In 2016, with financial support from the Chinese Government, the Conference on “Safeguarding African World Heritage as a Driver of Sustainable Development" was organized in Arusha (United Republic of Tanzania), which adopted the landmark Ngorongoro Declaration, reaffirming the importance of heritage for preserving and promoting culture, and as a driver of sustainable development. The Funds also supported production of the follow-up publication “World Heritage for Sustainable Development in Africa” and a travelling exhibition entitled “African World Heritage: a pathway for development”.
The Funds continued to support follow-up activities to the Arusha Conference in 2017 and 2018, including the World Heritage and Educational Institutions in Africa initiative and the COMPACT (Engaging Local Communities in the Stewardship of World Heritage) initiative from a cultural angle.
In 2019, further commitment enabled the organization of the “UNESCO-Africa-China Forum on World Heritage Capacity Building and Cooperation” at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France), which concluded with Recommendations and an Action Plan for joint projects supporting long-term capacity building for the safeguarding of African World Heritage properties.
The funding from Government of China is instrumental to improve the representation of the Africa region on the World Heritage List as well as to enhance the capacity of the professionals on World Heritage conservation and management. The funding is supporting the finalization of the nomination dossiers of Zakouma National Park (Chad), Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape (Cameroon) as an extension of Sukur Cultural Landscape (Nigeria), World Heritage property, Surame Cultural Landscape (Nigeria), and the extension of Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba as a transboundary site (Benin and Togo). Capacity-building activities are also supported in Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mali, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, the United Republic of Tanzania and others.