The IHBC is delighted to welcome formally the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, on 16 November 2022.
IHBC Chair David McDonald said: ‘’World Heritage Sites are such an integral part of our appreciation of the historic environment that it may be a surprise to some that they have been in existence for only 50 years.’
… next year we will be devoting an issue of Context to World Heritage Sites…
‘It is good to see that UNESCO will be holding a number of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention that led to their designation. I’m also pleased to see that these events will look to the future as well as the past.’
‘It is also timely to review the what World Heritage Site designations have achieved but also to learn lessons where their success has been limited. To play our part, next year we will be devoting an issue of Context to World Heritage Sites’.
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said: ‘UNESCO says of the half-a-centry old Convention that its ‘most significant feature… is that it links together… the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties.’
For the IHBC maybe it is just as important that it demonstrates the potential and impact of global standards in conservation, with 194 States party to the Convention as of 2020. This is so critical as conservation planning – whether for built or natural environments – is increasingly at the centre of any viable future.’
… Ensure the effective Conservation of World Heritage properties…
UNESCO writes:
The most significant feature of the 1972 World Heritage Convention is that it links together in a single document the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The Convention recognizes the way in which people interact with nature, and the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two.
The ‘Five Cs’
Strategic Objectives
Credibility
Strengthen the Credibility of the World Heritage List, as a representative and geographically balanced testimony of cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value.
Conservation
Ensure the effective Conservation of World Heritage properties.
Capacity-building
Promote the development of effective Capacity-building measures, including assistance for preparing the nomination of properties to the World Heritage List, for the understanding and implementation of the World Heritage Convention and related instruments.
Communication
Increase public awareness, involvement and support for World Heritage through communication.
Communities
Enhance the role of communities in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.
See more background
See also extensive links (including ‘50 Minds for the Next 50. Dialogue Series’, ‘to convene fifty leading, innovative, bold, respected thinkers of our times from diverse disciplines for the most interdisciplinary discussion on World Heritage ever to be held’, HERE
For more context see 50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility – Conflict & Reconciliation, on open access from Springer, and includes an paper from Dennis Rodwell IHBC.
