40 Years World Heritage Convention: Popularizing the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage

Description

Since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, the notion that cultural and natural heritage need to be protected and properly utilized has gained popularity. Over time, however, such utilization concepts were less focused on ideas of sustainability and became increasingly influenced by commercial interests. For the first time, this publication attempts to elaborate the development of the World Heritage Convention, the Convention itself in its different facets and how it evolved into one of the most important UNESCO instruments for the protection of cultural and natural heritage. It will be shown that the protection and utilization of heritage is a highly complex political, participatory and interdisciplinary process. This publication discusses these developments and suggests potential solutions in order to deal with such unintended trends. Development of the World Heritage Convention in the course of time Contradictions of protection and use of World Heritage Future of the World Heritage Convention Contents 1 Introduction 2 What is World Heritage? 2.1 Cultural sites and natural sites 2.2 Criteria for justification: characteristics and types 2.3 Mandatory criteria: authenticity and integrity 2.4 Typological, thematic and chronological-regional considerations 2.5 Management requirements 2.6 List of World Heritage in Danger 3 The World Heritage Convention in the Fullness of Time 3.1 How it all began 3.2 Stages of implementation 3.3 The Global Strategy 4 Discourses Surrounding World Heritage 4.1 Tangible discourse of experts, or “authorized discourse“ 4.2 Discourse on the appropriation of heritage into the social process 4.3 Heritage Studies discourse – protection and use of heritage in the interest of human development 5 Effects of Popularization 5.1 World Heritage and politics 5.2 World Heritage and tourism 6 World Heritage versus Intangible Cultural Heritage 6.1 Transformation processes: from tangible to intangible 6.2 Intangible heritage in the 2003 Convention 7 Prospects for the Future 7.1 Heritage and empowerment of stakeholders 7.2 Culture, heritage and diversity 7.3 World Heritage and sustainable development Glossary Bibliography List of Figures List of Tables Notes on Contributors Index