Online Technical Workshop on Heritage Impact Assessment: The Case of Historic Cairo

A technical workshop was organized to strengthen capacities of stakeholders in identifying and evaluating the impact that new projects may pose on the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage sites, in addition to the elaboration of the necessary mitigation measures.

The online workshop was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, and brought together more than 30 representatives of the various institutions concerned with the management and conservation of Historic Cairo. It was organized with the technical support of the Advisory Bodies of the World Heritage Committee, ICCROM and ICOMOS, and in coordination with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States - Cluster Office for Egypt and Sudan.

The programme of the workshop, which spanned seven days between 7 and 16 June 2021, provided an overview of the World Heritage Convention, the elaboration of a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value,  attributes of World Heritage properties, and the designation of site boundaries. It tackled various topics related to the principles and processes of preparing Impact Assessments, and comprised participatory and engaging exercises focusing on a hypothetical case study. The practical applications and discussions, contributed to gaining a better understanding of how processes are applied in the elaboration of Heritage Impact Assessments. 

The organization of the workshop was made possible  thanks to the support of the Government of France for the project “Enhancing Capacities for the Protection of World Heritage Properties in Egypt”.