The drafting and adoption of UNESCO’s heritage conventions are the result of perceived threats to heritage resources. This reactive process, focused on individual heritage elements, has resulted in a siloed approach to the application of the various operational guidelines laid out in these conventions. Selected elements of heritage are managed separately and by teams of experts centered on their own areas of competence. This has resulted in management strategies that prioritize some heritage facets above others, thereby excluding components that may resonate deeply with stakeholders. At worst, this approach creates conflict and feelings of disenfranchisement.

This session seeks to identify and debate concepts and mechanisms for applying a cross-convention approach to the identification of World Heritage and an inclusive approach to the management of World Heritage Sites. The goal of the session is to test the feasibility of endorsing a multi-convention strategy for World Heritage.

MODERATOR: Jonathan Sharfman (South Africa)

SPEAKERS

Guo Zhan, Senior Commissioner and researcher, Department of Cultural Heritage Protection/ State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) (P.R. of China)

Harriet Deacon, PhD MSc FRSA, Visiting Research Fellow, Coventry University (UK)

Topic: Beyond world heritage: concepts of culture and heritage in different UNESCO conventions