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Sustainable Development at World Heritage Sites

February 4, 2016 Published by Beth Thomas

For those those of you who are not aware, in November last year, at the General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, a Policy on the integration of a sustainable development perspective into the processes of the World Heritage Convention was adopted.

This policy was the outcome of a protracted, but intense period of work undertaken by UNESCO, led by Giovanni Boccardi of the World Heritage Centre in Paris.  The work involved experts and practitioners from around the world, and drew on other conventions and their policies of a similar nature.

In essence, the Policy sets out how the world’s 1000+ World Heritage Sites can contribute towards sustainable development, in all of its dimensions.   How this will relate to managing Sites in practice is yet to be worked out, and I expect that  it will be a couple of years before guidance gets to Site level.  However, the principles of the policy are sound and it would be a useful document for all Site managers to have a look at, particularly those just starting to think about revising Management  Plans.

The document can be downloaded here. Please do feel free to share  your comments on the document here.