World Heritage Conservation: The World Heritage Convention, Linking Culture and Nature for Sustainable Development

313 Pages·2017·6.039 MB·English

by  Claire Cave, Elene Negussie

World Heritage Conservation
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has become one of the most
successful UN instruments for promoting cultural diplomacy and dialogue on
conservation of cultural and natural heritage. This book provides an overview of
the convention through an interdisciplinary approach to conservation. It shows
that based on the notion of outstanding universal value and international co-
operation for the protection of heritage, the convention provides a platform for
sustainable development through the conservation and management of heritage
of significance to humanity.
With increasing globalization of heritage, World Heritage Conservation
is reviewed as an emerging interdisciplinary field of study creating new
opportunities for inclusive heritage debate both locally and globally, requiring
common tools and understanding. With over a thousand properties inscribed
on the World Heritage List, from biologically diverse sites such as the Central
Amazon Conservation Complex to the urban landscape of the metropolis of
Rio de Janeiro, this book will help students, researchers and professionals in
the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of World Heritage.
Targeted at a diversity of disciplines, the book critically describes the strategies
for implementing the convention and the processes of heritage governance for
sustainable development.
Claire Cave holds a Ph.D. in zoology from University College Dublin, Ireland.
She is coordinator of the World Heritage Management Programme and co-
designer of the World Heritage Conservation Distance Learning Programme, in
the School of Archaeology, University College Dublin.
Elene Negussie holds a Ph.D. in geography from Trinity College Dublin,
Ireland. She is co-designer of the World Heritage Conservation Distance
Learning Programme and former lecturer on the World Heritage Management
Programme at University College Dublin, Ireland. Since 2014 she has been site
manager for the Hanseatic Town of Visby, at Region Gotland, Sweden.

World Heritage
Conservation
the World Heritage
Convention, linking
Culture and nature for
sustainable development
Claire Cave and Elene Negussie
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 C. Cave and E. Negussie
The right of C. Cave and E. Negussie to be identified as authors of
this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-415-72854-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-72855-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-85163-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
Contents
List of figures vi
List of tables viii
Preface ix
Introduction to World Heritage Conservation 1
1 World Heritage and sustainable development 15
2 Defining World Heritage 45
3 Governing World Heritage 76
4 Implementing the World Heritage Convention 105
5 Using World Heritage 136
6 Managing World Heritage 164
7 Creating conservation capacities 192
8 Endangered heritage 219
9 Towards a holistic approach 251
References 265
Index 295
Figures
1.1 Stone wall at Tolerance Square, UNESCO headquarters in Paris 17
1.2 Abu Simbel temples, Egypt 19
1.3 The Symbolic Globe monument on the piazza of UNESCO
in Paris 33
1.4 Ahwar marshes of Iraq 35
1.5 Messel Pit Fossil Site, Germany 38
1.6 Wadden Sea 40
2.1 Venice and its Lagoon 55
2.2 Great Barrier Reef, Australia 57
2.3 Pillars of outstanding universal value 61
2.4 Delineation of the Historic Site of Lyon: World Heritage site
and buffer zone 69
2.5 Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls 72
2.6 Temple of Preah Vihear, Cambodia 74
3.1 The World Heritage Centre, located within the building complex
of UNESCO in Paris 81
3.2 17th ICOMOS General Assembly meeting held at the
headquarters of UNESCO in 2011 85
3.3 IUCN World Conservation Congress held in Hawaii in 2016 86
3.4 The World Heritage Committee at its 36th Session in St Petersburg
in 2012 90
3.5 Laponia: Land of the Sami people 94
3.6 Jojk performance, the traditional folk song of the Sami people 94
4.1 Kotor city walls, Montenegro 112
4.2 The Arabian oryx 114
4.3 Waldschlösschen Bridge, Dresden 115
4.4 Number of cultural, natural and mixed sites on the World
Heritage List 1978–2016 117
4.5 Tian Shan Mountains of Silk Road, Kyrgyzstan 122
4.6 Cederberg daisies in the Cape Floral Region, South Africa 130
List of figures vii
4.7 Main gate of Saalburg Roman Fort, Germany: part of the
Roman Limes 131
5.1 Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: view of Bartolomé Island 151
5.2 Visitor centre in Regensburg, Germany 153
5.3 Fontana di Trevi, Rome 156
5.4 Worship at the Rock-hewn Churches, Lalibela 158
5.5 Uluru Kata-Tjuta: a sacred landscape 159
5.6 The water mirror (Le miroir d’eau) at Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux 161
5.7 Gulf of Utoro, Shiretoko 162
6.1 Monument at Angkor, Cambodia 167
6.2 Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage property in Wales 169
6.3 Funes Valley, The Dolomites, Italy 183
6.4 View of the Torre Cajasol from the Giralda tower of Seville
Cathedral 185
6.5 Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, South Africa 188
6.6 Bhaktapur temple in the urban setting of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 189
7.1 Brú na Bóinne – Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the
Boyne, Ireland 198
7.2 Poached elephant with tusks removed, Central African Republic 205
7.3 Doñana National Park, Spain 208
7.4 United Nations sustainable development goals 212
7.5 Rock-hewn Churches, Lalibela: Bet Giorgis (House of St. George) 215
7.6 Landscape view of Lalibela 216
8.1 Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar 226
8.2 Niche which once held a Buddha statue in Bamiyan Valley,
Afghanistan 227
8.3 Bam Citadel, Iran 231
8.4 Mosque at Timbuktu, Mali 232
8.5 Viaduct encircling Historic District of Panamá 234
8.6 Traditional houses on the shore of Tonle Sap Lake, Angkor,
Cambodia 245
tables
2.1 Cultural criteria 54
2.2 Natural criteria 56
2.3 Definition of cultural heritage 63
2.4 Definition of natural heritage 64
3.1 Stakeholder attribute identification analysis 98
5.1 Indicators of sustainable use of biological diversity 148
6.1 The 12 tools of the Enhancing our Heritage toolkit for
evaluating management effectiveness of World Heritage sites 176
6.2 Issues and threats associated with mining and mineral extraction 187
7.1 World Heritage Category 2 Centres 196
7.2 Integration of culture with the sustainable development goals 213
7.3 Environmental objectives in the sustainable development goals 214
PreFaCe
Internationalism became a key principle in the twentieth century advocating
cooperation amongst nations and peoples, reflected in the forming of the
United Nations in the aftermath of World War II. The adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 reflected the need for internationally
agreed principles to secure the rights of each person with regard to freedom,
justice and peace. The World Heritage Convention of 1972, the principal focus
of this book, emanates from a similar discourse of universalism and notions of
protecting cultural and natural diversity.
However, multilateralism is increasingly challenged as reflected in Britain’s
referendum vote in 2016 in favour of leaving the European Union, and, in the
following year, the US withdrawal from the United Nations Paris Accord, a
global agreement on climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
to adapt to a green economy. Still, the need for joint international action to
conserve and manage cultural and natural resources seems to make more
sense than ever, as demonstrated by the evolving theory and practice of World
Heritage Conservation and more broadly the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. In addition, the Anthropocene has been recognized
as a crucial epoch in which climate and environmental change are intrinsically
linked to human activity.
In 2002, the University College Dublin master’s programme in World
Heritage Management was established with the specific purpose of contributing
to capacity building for World Heritage. It set out to provide education and
training on the theoretical and practical basis for the conservation and
management of the world’s cultural and natural heritage, and has supported
research aimed at tackling practical management problems at World Heritage
sites and protected areas globally. In 2012, the authors of this book developed