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18th International Meeting on Management of Heritage Cities celebrates 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention |
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16 November 2022/ UNESCO Havana
The International Meeting on Management of Heritage Cities was back with its 18th edition, after two years of absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organized by the Master Plan of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, the event takes place from November 16 to 18, 2022 in the Aula Magna of the San Gerónimo de La Habana University College, in the Historic Center of the Cuban capital. Its inauguration coincided with the 503rd anniversary of the founding of the village of San Cristóbal de La Habana.
UNESCO is sponsoring the Meeting, together with the European Union, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (COSUDE), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Barcelona City Council, the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation, the Tecnalia Foundation and the Ibero-American Centre for Strategic Urban Development (CIDEU), among others.
The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, celebrated precisely on November 16, and the 40th anniversary of the inscription of Old Havana and its Fortification System on the World Heritage List.
Within this framework, the director of UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Anne Lemaistre, delivered the Keynote Lecture of the Meeting, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Convention, in which she highlighted that this normative instrument, in the last five decades, has protected all the treasures of Humanity.
"It has become the most widely ratified international heritage protection treaty in the world and constitutes a unique international cooperation mechanism that brings together people and resources to safeguard heritage," she stressed.
In her remarks, the also UNESCO representative for Cuba, recalled that this Caribbean nation has 9 World Heritage sites, 7 cultural and 2 natural, and highlighted the arrival of the first one inscribed, Old Havana and its Fortification System, to its 40th anniversary on December 14. In that regard, she paid tribute with deep respect to two personalities who contributed to the achievement of this inscription and to the preservation of that site for current and future generations: Dr. Marta Arjona, whose Centennial will be celebrated in 2023, and Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, who was the Director of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.
The theme chosen by UNESCO to celebrate the 50th anniversary is "The Next 50 Years: World Heritage as a Source of Resilience, Humanity and Innovation". Therefore, explained the UNESCO representative, the priority areas discussed at the event held this November 16 in Delphi, Greece, were climate change and heritage conservation, balanced representation of inscribed sites, sustainable tourism, digital transformation, and post-COVID-19 recovery.
"By focusing on these priorities, together we will have the opportunity to generate high-impact results and accelerate innovation over the next 50 years," Lemaistre said.
The World Heritage Convention is also present in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, in Target 11.4: "Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”, under SDG 11, which commits States to "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
The speaker highlighted the current and future challenges of the Convention, including the need to reinforce the credibility of the World Heritage List, as a representative and geographically balanced testimony of cultural and natural assets of outstanding universal value, as well as the effective conservation of World Heritage properties through the development of management plans adapted to the nature, values, and identity of each site, and regularly updated.
Among the main threats to all declared sites, both natural and cultural, she mentioned "the effects of climate change, conflicts, poorly designed economic development projects, unsustainable tourism, lack of financial and human resources, and political instrumentalization."
Anne Lemaistre emphasized the role of the Convention as an important capacity building instrument for heritage. It has also inspired new heritage and territorial policy and management tools adopted by States Parties, among which she highlighted the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011) and urged to consult them as a practical guide for the management of the properties that, consequently, reinforce the conservation and preservation efforts present in the Convention.
"World Heritage is our legacy. It belongs to all of us. It is our inheritance from the past, it is what we live today and what we pass on to future generations. As we celebrate together the achievements of the last 50 years in heritage preservation, we are also pleased to chart together the next 50 years," said in conclusion the UNESCO representative, who thanked the Republic of Cuba and professionals in the sector for their commitment and support in favor of heritage.
She also expressed UNESCO's willingness to be associated with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the inscription of Old Havana and its Fortification System on the World Heritage List with the joint organization of an exhibition on the World Heritage sites of the three Latin Caribbean countries (Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic) on the railings of the headquarters of UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Havana, and an Open Day there on November 19.
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Related Link(s): World Heritage |
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