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24. Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention)

Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The World Heritage Convention marked its fiftieth anniversary in November with worldwide conferences, special events, and new initiatives, such as the ‘50 Minds for the Next 50’ interdisciplinary forum. The forty-fifth session of the World Heritage Committee, which had been scheduled to take place in Russia on 19–30 June, was postponed due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It is, instead, due to take place on 10–25 September 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Bureau of the World Heritage Committee held two meetings in July to discuss procedural aspects of the forty-fifth session. However, no consensus could be achieved on this matter, requiring further consultations in subsequent meetings (Decision 45.COM/BUR.2.2). The twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly will be held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Headquarters in 2023, at a date to be confirmed. In addition to numerous State of Conservation reports submitted by state parties since the previous session, the forty-fifth session of the World Heritage Committee will consider reports from Reactive Monitoring missions to several properties (including the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Memphis and its Necropolis: the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur, Egypt; Upper Middle Rhine Valley, Germany; the Town of Luang Prabang, Laos; and Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha, Nepal) and Advisory missions to two others (the Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso, Chile; and Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites, United Kingdom). Nominations for new inscriptions on the World Heritage List will also be considered by the Committee at its forty-fifth session, although the relevant nomination documents are yet to be made publicly available in March 2023. The Reactive Monitoring mission to the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) was undertaken in early 2022 due to concerns over the deteriorating condition of the property and its long-term outlook, despite the introduction of the ‘Reef 2050 Long-term Sustainability Plan’ by the state party in 2015. The World Heritage Committee considered that progress had been very slow in meeting the Plan’s targets in key areas, and that stronger, clearer commitments are required. Urgent measures are needed to address the impacts of climate change, as well as to improve water quality and land management. The resulting joint World Heritage Centre–International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Reactive Monitoring mission aimed to identify corrective measures for achieving a desired state of conservation, although it was recognized that the state party alone could not address the threats posed to the reef by climate change. The mission’s report on the Great Barrier Reef, issued in March, concludes that, despite recent efforts to counteract its impacts, climate change poses an ‘increasingly serious challenge’ to the outstanding universal value of the property, as evidenced by a series of mass coral bleaching events. Its resilience is hampered by factors such as poor water quality, caused primarily by a range of land-based activities. As a result, the mission recommended that the Great Barrier Reef be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger—a matter that will be considered by the Committee at the forty-fifth session. It also made ten high priority recommendations for urgent action, and twelve additional recommendations to strengthen the property’s resilience. A Reactive Monitoring mission was also carried out to Memphis and its Necropolis: the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (Egypt), after concerns were raised during an Advisory mission in 2021 regarding various major projects that were underway. These included the proposed Cairo Ring Road, the Giza Pyramids Plateau Development Project, and the Pyramids Security Project, for which the state party had been requested to submit heritage impact assessments and other documentation to the World Heritage Centre. The tasks of the Reactive Monitoring mission were to evaluate the property’s state of conservation, review ongoing and proposed projects, and assess the impacts of these on the property’s outstanding universal value. The resulting report, issued in February, concludes that there are no major threats to the outstanding universal value of the property, although the recently finalized infrastructure projects should be monitored to avoid any further development or encroachment. Regarding the Upper Middle Rhine Valley in Germany, concerns were noted by the World Heritage Committee in 2021 in regard to various projects with the combined potential to negatively affect the outstanding universal value of the property. The projects include the proposed construction of a permanent river crossing, railway and road upgrades, a cable car extension, a windfarm, and a hotel. A joint World Heritage Centre–International Council on Monuments and Sites Reactive Monitoring (ICOMOS) mission was deemed necessary, and this was undertaken in May. The mission’s report recommends various improvements to the overall management plan for the property and its state of conservation as a cultural landscape, as well as the implementation of safeguards for the projects that were either planned or already underway. It also suggests a follow-up Reactive Monitoring mission to verify progress on all of these fronts at a later date. In 2021, the World Heritage Committee also identified the Town of Luang Prabang (Laos) as potentially at risk from impacts of development projects, including a major hydroelectricity scheme (Decision 44 COM 7B.32). A joint Reactive Monitoring mission was carried out by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in April to assess the property’s overall state of conservation and the implementation of heritage preservation measures, evaluate all of the proposed developments, and make recommendations as to how these could safeguard the outstanding universal value of the property. The mission’s report concludes that, although the attributes of the property’s outstanding universal value remained satisfactory, some of them are under threat from a range of factors. Among these are new development projects, such as the hydroelectricity scheme, which have the potential to cause deterioration in the property’s state of conservation. Recommendations were made to the state party on specific measures relating to conserving the property’s attributes, managing development projects, and improving governance and stakeholder engagement. A Reactive Monitoring mission was also deemed necessary for Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha (Nepal), in light of the property’s deteriorating state of conservation. In 2021, the World Heritage Committee expressed particular concerns over new developments, such as the Lumbini World Peace City initiative, a large-capacity meditation hall, and a cement plant, that were being approved and constructed by the state party without prior notification to the World Heritage Centre. The Reactive Monitoring mission was carried out jointly by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in March to review the property’s Integrated Management Framework and all relevant development projects and to assess the overall state of conservation. The mission to Lumbini concluded that, although considerable work had been carried out to reduce or eliminate many of the existing threats, other threats remained. These included the lack of a finalized conservation policy for the property, lack of capacity to undertake the necessary measures, and damage caused by infrastructure works. In addition to other measures, the mission report recommends that the state party approve the Integrated Management Framework without delay and conduct a heritage impact assessment prior to implementing any significant development projects or renovation works. The mission also suggested that the possible inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger be considered if the state party could not demonstrate, by the World Heritage Committee’s forty-sixth session, that it had made sufficient progress on the recommended measures and previous requests. An extraordinary meeting of the World Heritage Committee was convened in January 2023 to consider emergency nominations for the simultaneous inscription of three properties on both the World Heritage List and List of World Heritage in Danger. This was facilitated by an accelerated procedure under the Convention’s Operational Guidelines. One of the properties was the Historic Centre of Odesa (Ukraine), which had been formally nominated by Ukraine in October 2022. The World Heritage Committee’s decision to inscribe Odesa on the List of World Heritage in Danger was made in light of the major threats posed to the property by the ongoing conflict. UNESCO has been assisting the state party in carrying out urgent works to repair the damage already caused, and to safeguard the property. Another of the three properties to be inscribed in this way is the Landmarks of the Ancient Kingdom of Saba, Marib (Yemen), also on the basis of the potential destruction from ongoing conflict. The Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli, Lebanon, is the third property to be simultaneously inscribed on both Lists. This decision was made due to the property’s poor state of conservation, the lack of financial resources for its maintenance, and the potential impacts of proposed development. The inscription of all three new properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger enables the relevant state parties to access financial and technical assistance in achieving the desired state of conservation for the properties. The earthquake in Türkiye and Syria in February 2023, as well as resulting in the large-scale loss of life, likely caused damage to at least two World Heritage properties in the region. Early indications are that significant damage occurred to buildings in the Ancient City of Aleppo, Syria, which has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013. Several buildings also collapsed at the World Heritage site of Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape in Türkiye, with other nearby World Heritage properties potentially also impacted. In March 2023, measures were still being undertaken by UNESCO, ICOMOS, and local authorities to secure and stabilize the properties, and an assessment of the full extent of damage was ongoing. This year, UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee jointly issued new guidances to reduce the impacts of development projects on World Heritage sites. The Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context aims to integrate and update the 2011 ICOMOS Guidance on Impact Assessment for Cultural World Heritage Properties and the 2013 IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment. According to the IUCN (2022), almost 150 properties had been requested by the World Heritage Committee to conduct impact assessments over the preceding six years, but best practices had not always been followed. The new guidance is intended to achieve greater consistency in this regard. Another key guidance document, the Policy Document on Climate Action for World Heritage, was due to be updated and finalized for consideration at the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly in 2023. A panel of experts on Climate Change and World Heritage was established through Decision 44 COM 7C (2021) to carry out the necessary revisions to this guidance.
DOI: 10.1093/yiel/yvad060
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,153
OpenAlex ID: W4387330552
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