Workshop held for the “Formulation of the axes of the plan for safeguarding the intangible heritage associated to Qhapaq Ñan”

Workshop in La Paz, Bolivia (25/05/2017) © Ministerio de Culturas y Turismo de Bolivia | Ministerio de Culturas y Turismo de Bolivia | Image Source: Ministerio de Culturas y Turismo de Bolivia
Sunday, 28 May 2017
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From 24 to 26 May 2017, in La Paz, Bolivia, in the framework of the project “Support to the reinforcement of the participative management structure of the Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System” and with the financial support of UNESCO/ Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism of Bolivia, organized the international workshop for the “Formulation of the axes of the plan for safeguarding the intangible heritage associated to Qhapaq Ñan”. 

The main objective of the event was to move forward with the formulation of the axes of the plan for safeguarding the intangible heritage associated to Qhapaq Ñan in line with the objectives set by the World Heritage Convention (1972).

The workshop permitted the discussion of the document "Intangible attributes associated with Qhapaq Ñan", conceptualized by the Bolivian anthropologist Richard Mujica. Using this document as a basis, the participants of the six countries presented the ethnographic and orality sheets that compiled each of the intangible attributes associated with the Qhapaq Ñan inventoried in the national territory.

From these presentations, various discussions were generated on how to present the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) associated with Qhapaq Ñan and how to assume the safeguarding of these elements, taking into account the cultural laws and policies of the six countries that make up the present territory of the property. All participants agreed on the serious need to implement a monitoring system focused on the intangible attributes associated with Qhapaq Ñan that have implications for the conservation and management of the property and that would therefore affect their conservation, integrity and authenticity in case of threat.

The teams in each country presented various proposals for the monitoring of attributes which resulted in the definition of a pilot monitoring matrix. This tool represents a first step towards the formulation of a database and the processing, analysis and storage of relevant information to ensure a sustainable monitoring of the intangible attributes associated with Qhapaq Ñan.

The workshop was attended by local experts and technical secretaries in ICH of the six countries that make up Qhapaq Ñan (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and four international experts in ICH.