World Heritage Sites


Nature Gallery (Global Trends)
World Heritage Sites
The Question of Heritage
As individuals, and as communities and nations, how we see ourselves is largely rooted in the past. Where we came from, where we grew up, the history of our towns and countries—all of these influences shape who we are, and what we value. Memories, both individual and collective, help us preserve the past and connect us to places and to other people. We preserve these memories in a variety of forms, from diaries and photographs to items with broader cultural significance, such as traditional dances, textiles, or buildings and monuments. The objects and traditions that preserve these memories, to be passed down from generation to generation, are referred to collectively as individual or cultural heritage. But what exactly does individual or cultural heritage include? The very concept of cultural significance of heritage implies a process of judging and selecting. Imagine that you had a collection of photographs documenting every minute of your life. As time passed, this personal archive would become extremely large, and difficult to take care of or enjoy. Are all of the images worth keeping just because they are part of your past? If you decided to keep only some of the images, how would you select them? You might choose some photographs for their emotional power, their aesthetic value, their uniqueness, or for what they might teach to your descendants. Every individual would have his or her own approach to the question of how many of the photographs should be preserved, and why. On a larger scale, nations and cultures must make similar decisions about how to preserve the traditions, monuments, and landscapes that make up their heritage, or whether these things should be preserved at all. The problem of selection is compounded by the fact that the concepts of heritage and culture are subject to change and constant revision.

Culture, in particular, is an unbounded term—a single culture may contain many minority views, sub-groups, and even counter-cultures that share fewer or more common ideas, customs, and values. Preserving—or destroying—the past in any form is often a contentious issue, deeply embedded in local politics and shifting notions of cultural identity. Preservation or Development?
One of the fundamental issues that arises is the tension between economic development and historic preservation. Conserving an ancient religious site in a crowded urban setting, for example, might prevent the construction of an office building that could provide jobs for many people. The building of a factory could dramatically boost a local economy, but at the expense of an increasingly rare patch of wetlands. People often disagree about which goal is more important. Champions for progress might argue that historic buildings should be replaced with more modern, efficient constructions, or that tracts of land should be developed as patterns of settlement and migration change. Proponents of preservation might counter that historic buildings and natural sites are irreplaceable—and that the value they add to our overall cultural richness is greater than that of potential economic development. The Role of International Organizations
Ultimately, the question arises of who is responsible for making such decisions about heritage. Should national governments be charged with determining which sites within their borders are worthy of protection, and for implementing conservation programmes? Many countries do make efforts to protect valued urban and rural sites as historic districts, wildlife preserves, or public parks, often run at local, state, and national levels. But not all nations have the infrastructure and the resources to carry out such programmes effectively, and the effects of pollution, urban development, and political unrest continually threaten places deemed to be valuable. As a result, a number of international organizations have been founded to help identify and preserve places of historical and cultural significance, based on the belief that sites representing a common human heritage are the responsibility of the world community rather than of an individual country. The main international bodies involved in this work are the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the World Monument Fund, and the World Heritage Committee (WHC). ICOMOS was founded in 1965 as an international organization of conservation specialists. It sets standards for the conservation and restoration of cultural monuments, provides a professional forum for discussions about conservation techniques and management of monuments, and serves as a consulting authority to governments and the WHC. IUCN was founded in 1948 and focuses on the conservation of natural resources. The organization consists of governments, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). ICCROM is an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1956. It provides restoration training and expertise for cultural property, including movable objects such as paintings. The World Monument Fund, also founded in 1965, is a non-profit-making international organization that seeks to safeguard architecturally important monuments and works of art. It identifies sites that are in danger of destruction and attempts to bring together local communities and governments with private support in preservation efforts. The World Heritage Committee (WHC) was founded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1972 to conserve and protect examples of world heritage, specifically monuments, groups of buildings, and natural sites of universal value. By December 1997, the organization had designated 552 locations around the globe as World Heritage Sites. To date, 152 nations have signed the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, agreeing to assist in the preservation of sites located within their borders. The convention functions as an international legal instrument governing the preservation and maintenance of cultural and natural heritage sites. With such widespread participation and global coverage, the WHC is the most influential organization for defining, conserving, and protecting places deemed significant to the heritage of humankind. How the World Heritage Committee Works
The WHC classifies sites into one of two major categories: cultural sites and natural sites. According to the WHC Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, cultural sites are selected according to the following criteria. Cultural heritage properties should: represent a masterpiece of human creative genius, or exhibit an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or landscape design, or bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or has disappeared, or be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble, or landscape which illustrates a significant stage or significant stages in human history, or be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land use which is representative of a culture or cultures, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change, or be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas or with beliefs, or with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance (a criterion used only in exceptional circumstances, and together with other criteria). To date, the WHC has designated 418 cultural sites. One example is the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyōto, which became a World Heritage Site in December 1994. The site includes 17 buildings, mostly Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, which are among the country's oldest and most notable religious monuments. Although the structures are not contiguous, they are all contained within the area encompassed by Kyoto when it served as the capital of Japan from 794 to 1600. The designation of these 17 buildings as a single World Heritage Site represents a novel approach to balancing the preservation of a group of interrelated buildings with the needs of a developing city. In the years since its founding, the WHC has added two subcategories of cultural sites: cultural industrial sites, which are historically significant because of industrial development, and cultural landscapes, areas where people have formed a particularly strong association with the land. An example of a cultural industrial site is the Alte Völklinger Hütte, the ironworks at Völklingen in Saarland, Germany. This industrial complex, inscribed in 1994, was the first of its kind to be named a World Heritage Site. Originally founded in 1873, it is the only defunct ironworks in Europe and North America in which the original equipment has been preserved. The plant strongly influenced the settlement pattern of Völklingen, gradually drawing the focus of the town from the old village centre to the area surrounding the plant. The town is now being developed as a tourist destination. Cultural landscapes are areas where the inhabitants have a special relationship with the landscape. In 1993 Tongariro National Park in New Zealand became the first site to be designated a cultural landscape, three years after it had originally been recognized as a World Heritage Site. The spectacular volcanic landscape of the park includes the distinctive peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu. The volcanoes are closely linked with the life of the Maori people. The Maori regard the mountains in the park as sacred; stories about the mountains express core elements of Maori spirituality and self-identity. In 1887 the Maori gave the park to the government of New Zealand in an event that has become known as The Gift. Today the park is jointly managed by the Maori and the New Zealand government. By December 1997, the WHC had recognized 114 natural sites. According to the WHC operational guidelines, natural sites must meet the criteria listed below. Natural properties should: be outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features, or be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems, and communities of plants and animals, contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance, or contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from a scientific or conservational point of view. An example of a natural World Heritage Site is Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one of Africa's oldest national parks. Established in 1925, the park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979. The park's 790,000 hectares (1,950,000 acres) encompass a tremendous variety of landscapes, ranging from glacier-covered volcanoes to tropical rainforest. Virunga is also known for its diverse wildlife, including large hippopotamus and elephant populations. Because it is not always easy to separate the cultural significance of a place from its natural significance, the WHC has named 20 mixed sites that meet some of the criteria for both cultural and natural sites. One example is the Historic Sanctuary of Machupicchu in Peru. This site was selected in 1983 because it fulfilled the first and third criteria for cultural sites, and the second and third criteria for natural sites. Located high in the Andes, the historic home of the Incan Empire mixes the natural beauty of its magnificent setting with the valuable archaeological remains of an Incan city. Countries nominate sites within their own borders to be added to the World Heritage List. ICOMOS, ICCROM, and IUCN serve as advisers in evaluating a site for appropriateness as a World Heritage Site. In general, countries are eager to have their sites added to the World Heritage List, since the designation of sites often translates into enhanced financial and technical resources as well as increased tourism. Although the convention is a legally binding document, in practice it is the distinction, the economic benefits, and the conservation expertise that accompany designation as a heritage site that encourage countries to actively seek recognition by the WHC. Sites at Risk
Although the increased revenue from tourism to World Heritage Sites can provide more resources for preservation, the corresponding increase in traffic can have severely damaging effects. Industrial development poses a threat to urban monuments and natural parks alike. Heritage sites may also be threatened by war, overpopulation, or pollution. If a country does not adequately protect and maintain an inscribed site, the WHC can place it on a special list called the List of World Heritage in Danger and can ultimately remove the site from the World Heritage List altogether. By December 1997, there were 25 sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Virunga National Park was added to the list in 1994. In recent decades, population growth around the borders of the park has increased the human impact on the area, and poaching has been a serious problem. Both of these factors have threatened the integrity of the park, although the most severe danger has come with the political instability within the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda. Political turmoil in the DRC left the park with insufficient funding to effectively manage the area, leading to increased poaching. The huge influx of refugees from Rwanda in 1994 strained the park to its limits; deforestation and human waste in particular have severely damaged the area. Virunga demonstrates that a place long recognized for its exceptional beauty can fall prey to complex and large-scale hazards that are beyond the scope of international organizations. Yellowstone National Park in the United States, designated a World Heritage site in 1978, was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1995 because of the potential impact from a proposed nearby mining project. Some U.S. politicians objected to the influence of the WHC—even going so far as to suggest that the United Nations (UN) was attempting to take over U.S. national parks—but the project was eventually cancelled. The ever-changing interplay of natural and man-made dangers to sites, compounded by varying political agendas, makes even the preservation of cherished national parks such as Virunga and Yellowstone a complicated task. Cultural World Heritage Sites face similar challenges. Some sites, such as Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia, have been damaged by political conflict; others have suffered at the hands of natural disasters such as storms and floods. After a tornado struck the Royal Palaces of Abomey in Benin in 1984, the inclusion of the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger led to a coalition of projects to restore the palaces. Other cultural sites are threatened by the process of urban development. In Asia in particular, tremendous migrations from rural regions to urban centres and the subsequent rapid growth of many cities has led to a dramatic transformation of the cityscapes. The rapid rise of so-called megacities in Asia poses one of the most difficult contemporary problems in the preservation of heritage. Outlook
Cities and nations often face difficult decisions about how to ensure the best economic opportunities for their citizens while preserving important sites of cultural identity and heritage. Although Tongariro National Park, jointly run by the New Zealand government and the Maori, is a notable example of how potentially conflicting uses of, and ideas for, a particular site can be harmoniously resolved, not all similar scenarios end so peacefully. Different cultures, and different factions within a culture, often have conflicting views about their own heritage. Because issues of heritage are tied to self-identity, views of the past can be contested for political reasons as the past is reinterpreted in light of the contemporary political climate. One example of such a contested site is the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, which contains monuments sacred to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Unified action on preservation and development issues connected with this site is complex and problematic due to the competing political agendas of the groups involved. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1981, Jerusalem was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger just one year later. Although the WHC perceived that neglect, tourism, and urban development threatened the site, even the categorization of Jerusalem as a site in danger proved to be divisive. The WHC provides much of the funding as well as the prestige of its parent body, the United Nations (UN), to the preservation of sites around the world deemed important to our human heritage. Although the WHC and its affiliated organizations cannot prevent natural disasters, war, or the machinations of politics, they do direct much-needed aid and technical expertise to the sites included on the World Heritage List. More importantly, the WHC acts as a catalyst, directing attention to the places of our shared heritage and promoting international consensus on the necessity of preserving these places that embody our individual and collective memory. See also National Parks in the Pacific