Selected Cultural Heritage Initiatives
Multilateral Organizations
UNESCO
Tangible Cultural Heritage
UNESCO is working to protect tangible cultural heritage at risk
- monuments, sites, cultural heritage, urban and built heritage;
museums and collections, including missing collections; libraries,
archives, documents and archival materials; historic urban and rural
areas, coastal areas and territorial heritage; underwater remains.
UNESCO has many different programs to protect cultural heritage,
such as the World Heritage at Risk program and World Heritage Sites.
UNESCO has launched and conducted major projects and programs to
protect and restore such well-known buildings as the Borobudur temple
in Indonesia and the Nubia temples of Egypt. UNESCO has protected
over 630 World Heritage cultural and natural sites to ensure that
future generations can inherit the treasures of the past.
Intangible Cultural Heritage
In 1989, UNESCO formally recognized the intangible component of
heritage, defined as oral traditions, customs, languages, music,
dance, performing arts - which for many population groups, and especially
minority and indigenous communities, constitutes the essential source
of identity deeply rooted in the past.
UNESCO has identified several guiding principles for any holistic
development agenda, and they include a recognition that: culture
is central to peace and sustain ability; democracy and culture are
mutually reinforcing; cultural diversity is essential; culture is
the foundation of collective memory and plural identity; the cultural
sector is a source of income and employment; and culture must become
a key consideration in international policy decision-making.
UNESCO promotes the safeguarding and dissemination of intangible
heritage by inventory and collection activities, the provision of
support to networks of specialised institutions, training programmes
and traditional art festivals. Specific UNESCO programs in these
fields include its Sharjah prize for Arab Culture (awarded every
two years to honour intellectually distinguished individuals, groups
or institutions world-wide for their activities to promote Arab
culture). Safeguarding and promotion projects of intangible cultural
heritage in Asia is financed by the Japanese funds in trust, a collection
of traditional world music and its languages threatened by extinction
program. Recently, UNESCO has encouraged Member States to implement
national safeguarding plans, in particular for endangered heritage,
taking as its reference the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of
Traditional Culture and Folklore, adopted on the 15th of November
1989 by the General Conference of UNESCO.
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To achieve their goals for intangible heritage UNESCO, in 2000-2001,
aims to:
- raise the awareness of Member States and the public at large
of the importance of the various forms of the intangible heritage,
by highlighting the impact they have on the development of the
so-called "A modern" cultures and by encouraging broad
dissemination of the most representative elements of the intangible
heritage provide practical assistance for the preservation of
material supports (collection, documentation and conservation),
and more especially for the revitalisation (through transmission)
of intangible heritage.
- revitalise activities that will focus on identification of possessors
of traditional skills, for instance in connection with the systems
of "A Living Human Treasures, A Masterpiece of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity" and on development of the
intangible heritage relating to the cultural and natural sites
that the Organisation is endeavouring to rehabilitate.
- Cultural tourism incorporates aspects of tangible and intangible
cultural heritage.
- In recent years, tourism has become a complex phenomenon of
unprecedented proportions which for cultural heritage can be either
an opportunity for economic growth or a threat of destruction
(i.e. environmental damage, etc.). In that regard, UNESCO's objective
is to help Member States:
- to devise national strategies for the long-term preservation
of the cultural heritage;
- for better promotion and knowledge of the cultural heritage
among national and international tourists; and,
- for constructive intercultural exchanges between the local
population and travellers, thereby contributing to economic,
social and cultural development.
Legal Protection and Heritage
UNESCO is responsible for the international legal protection of
cultural heritage. It manages: the Convention for the Protection
of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Convention),
1954 and, its Protocols; the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting
and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership
of Cultural Property, 1970; the Convention concerning the Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention),
1972; and the eleven recommendations of UNESCO for the protection
of cultural heritage. A new draft Convention on the Protection of
Underwater Cultural Heritage is in preparation.
The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event
of Armed Conflict adopted at The Hague (Netherlands) in 1954 in
the wake of massive destruction of the cultural heritage in the
Second World War is the first international agreement focussing
exclusively on the protection of cultural heritage. It covers immovables
and movables, including monuments of architecture, art or history,
archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books and other
objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest, as well
as scientific collections of all kinds. There were 100 States Parties
to this Convention as at 8 March 2001.
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World Bank
The World Bank has made an effort to mainstream its concern for
culture in its drive for poverty reduction, empowerment and social
inclusion. The Bank's culture and development projects aim to protect
the natural heritage and conserve and reuse the built heritage,
as well as projects that recognize and support the living expressions
of culture today. Often these projects are successful in promoting
community solidarity, reducing poverty and improving the quality
of life of the beneficiaries.
The World Bank considers heritage a development "asset"
- a form of cultural capital which can be used in a dynamic sense
to provide employment, generate income, and mobilize communities
to alleviate poverty.
With its 1999 report Culture and Sustainable Development: A Framework
for Action, the World Bank emphasized the crucial role that tangible
and intangible culture can play in economic development. It considers
that tangible heritage can contribute to cultural tourism, while
intangible heritage is the totality of a society's skills and knowledge.
Consequently, both are crucial to sustainable development.
The World Bank is particularly concerned with the role to be played
by cultural heritage in dealing with poverty. The Dutch-Supported
program "Learning and Research on Culture and Poverty"
has two aims:
- to pilot innovative operational ways a) to improve poverty reduction
efforts by mobilizing cultural strengths and assets and b) to
improve the effectiveness of investment projects by integrating
explicit attention to culture into their design.
- to improve the operationally relevant research output on culture
and poverty, and produce a highly credible and important book
to influence development thinking and practice thus to affect
strategic directions of the Bank in the middle and longer term,
and to educate the Bank audience and other development practitioners
on the important roles culture can play, and why it should be
integrated and explicitly supported in development assistance.
Tangible Cultural Heritage
Culture is a consideration for other Bank programs, such as urban
development, indigenous peoples, non-government organization involvement,
environmental assessment, gender, resettlement, etc. For example,
in conducting environmental assessment, the World Bank ensures that
development projects do not result in unacceptable damage to cultural
heritage.
The first cultural projects done by the World Bank focused on traditional
tangible cultural heritage, i.e. restoration of architectural heritage
such as the Walled City in Lahore in Pakistan.
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Intangible Cultural Heritage
Recent work at the World Bank on culture has started to shift towards
intangible and social issues - participation, empowerment and social
capital, through three key areas. These three areas, as mentioned
in the World Bank Plan of Action 2000/2001 are:
- conceptual analyses of the contributions of cultural expression
to empowerment and linking of diversity with the challenge of
inclusion. It will also be putting special emphasis on the economic
justification of investments in culture, recognizing its intrinsic
existence value, its public goods character and the positive externalities
that it brings.
- to support, financially and technically "in alliance with
others" the protection of cultural heritage of the past as
well as the expression of local culture of today, for that will
be the heritage of tomorrow.
- to work in partnerships with the many institutions and actors
who have been leaders in this field, in reinforced networks of
the committed so that the whole of efforts is more than the sum
of the parts.
One of the Bank's most culturally sensitive projects is "The
Indigenous Cultural Heritage Small Projects" in Peru. This
program supports and provides technical assistance to the Peruvian
government to:
- formulate an Indigenous Peoples Development Strategy based upon
the preservation and recuperation of cultural heritage;
- support indigenous and local communities to develop their own
local cultural heritage strategies; and
- design and implement small-scale "living culture"
projects. A further objective of the technical assistance activities
is to support a program of capacity-building and institutional
strengthening for the socio-economic development of indigenous
people.
Regional Organizations
ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (COCI)
The ASEAN COCI is committed to undertake conservation, preservation
and promotion programs to revitalize and further develop ASEAN's
cultural heritage. Since its first meeting in 1978, COCI has conducted
over three hundred cultural and information projects throughout
the region. These programs are funded by the ASEAN Cultural Fund
(ACF) which yields an annual income of US$2 million per year.
At the 30th anniversary of ASEAN in 1997, COCI reported that its
projects have generally achieved its goals and objectives and that
its numerous activities have radiated into a wide spectrum of friendly
people-to-people interaction and contacts both at the professional
and personal levels.
The COCI's action plan since 1994 includes various cultural initiatives
among which those aimed at heritage are of particular importance:
- preservation and revitalization of cultural heritage: Undertake
conservation, preservation and promotion programs to revitalize
and further develop ASEAN's cultural heritage.
- systematic documentation through research, video or through
publication ensures not only preservation of the cultural heritage
but also enhances further awareness of the need for their revitalization.
- adoption as common themes for its projects: Cultural Heritage
- To promote and develop the cultural heritage of ASEAN countries
and to make it relevant to contemporary ASEAN life.
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Council of Europe
The Council of Europe's Cultural Heritage Committee is responsible
for promoting and preserving the architectural heritage of Europe.
The Conventions for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage
and the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe consolidate,
improve and harmonize policies designed to conserve and enhance
members architectural heritage, providing a legal framework for
international co-operation.
The European Foundation for Cultural Heritage Skills, organized
on the initiative of the Council of Europe, fosters progress in
cultural heritage conservation skills and their transmission, in
other words it endeavors to enable professionals to improve their
ways of preserving the existing heritage and therefore handing it
down to future generations. It also organizes international exchanges
of information, the setting up of professional networks and the
promotion of awareness-raising schemes among the general public
and young people, in particular.
The "Europe, a Common Heritage" Campaign, decided in
the Council of Europe's Second Summit, was officially launched in
Bucharest and Sibiu (Romania) from 10th to 13th September 1999 and
was brought to a close in Riga (Latvia) in December 2000. The Campaign
involved the 41 member states of the Council of Europe, six other
countries that have signed the Cultural Convention (Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Holy See and Monaco), the states
with observer status under the Convention, the European Union and
international governmental or non-governmental organizations active
in the field of cultural and natural heritage. Each country participates
through a national committee or similar body.
The campaign is based on the premise that cultural heritage has
an important role to play in strengthening ties amongst Europe's
populations by favouring tolerance and understanding. Furthermore,
heritage is an important factor of sustainable economic and social
development: the rehabilitation of an urban neighbourhood not only
gives its inhabitants a sense of identity but also stimulates activity.
Organization of American States (OAS)
The Inter-American Program of Culture identifies four priority
areas:
- the promotion of respect for cultural diversity;
- dissemination and protection of cultural heritage;
- the development of human resources and encouragement of creativity;
and
- the promotion of cultural tourism.
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In 1999 the Inter-American Program of Culture decided to concentrate
on the following cultural initiatives, grouped under broad themes:
- The Promotion of Respect for Cultural Diversity
- Hold regional consultations.
- Seek funding to up-date series on cultural policy legislation
in the region that was initially published in the early 90's.
- Dissemination and Protection of Cultural Heritage
- Seek ways to link information systems on the tangible and
intangible, movable and immovable, public and private, cultural
heritage of the Americas.
- Publish the results of a region-wide survey concerning cultural
activities in the region, which will reflect trends in the
different member states, as well as the approaches to the
issues of culture and development.
- Mount a traveling exhibition on Natural Dyes, building on
past experiences in that field, that would be made for meetings
dealing with culture and development.
- Strengthen institutional development for the sustainable
conservation of cultural heritage and the participation of
civil society in the tasks of protection and preservation
of cultural heritage.
- Training of Human Resources and Encouragement of Creativity
- Promote the development of specialized training courses
for personnel of museums and archives in preservation and
conservation techniques
- In coordination with national institutions in the region,
seek to enhance support for efforts to inventory and strengthen
national archives in the region.
- Promotion of Cultural Tourism
- Explore the possibilities for partnership activities to
incorporate the cultural dimension in cultural tourism, in
particular in the areas of formulation and development of
culturally sensitive tourism planning research on the development
and impact of cultural tourism.
- Explore with UNESCO ways and means to support measures to
declare sites as well as intangible expressions in the region
as World Heritage.
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MERCOSUR
The executive branch of Mercosur met in Brasilia in 1992 and created
the Cultural Convention whose purpose is to "promote the publicity
of the member countries" cultures, fostering the mutual knowledge
of values and traditions, through joint undertakings and regional
cultural activities. The first Cultural Convention took place in
Buenos Aries 14-15 March 1995.
Mercosur has also established the Mercosur Cultural Parliament
(PARCUM) whose objective is to build a regulatory framework that
will facilitate the policies geared towards the "promotion
of cultural integration".
Andean Community
The Ministers of Culture and Cultural Policy-Makers of the Andean
countries agreed to carry out a multicultural project known as "The
Andean Route." Its purpose is to investigate the common traditions,
history, and legacy of the subregion, lay down bridges of understanding
between the different cultures that inhabit it, forge an Andean
memory and identity, and contribute to the development of a true
integration culture. The cultural authorities decided to carry out
programs to foster respect for local cultural traditions and creations,
the valuing of the cultural heritage, and access by the mass media
to native languages, and to facilitate the implementation of programs
geared towards submitting to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers
the request for creating an Andean Cultural Fund that would help
to finance cultural integration projects.
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)
The following are examples of tangible and intangible cultural
promotion projects that CARICOM worked on in 1998:
- facilitated the establishment of CARICOM Foundation for Art
and Culture;
- facilitated the Caribbean Music Industry Development (CARMID);developed
strategies for recognizing and increasing the economic contribution
of culture to development;
- facilitated the enhancement of international cultural relations.
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Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental
regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and
Turkey for the purpose of providing economic, technical and cultural
cooperation among themselves.
Among the main objectives of the ECO is the strengthening of historical
and cultural ties among the peoples of the ECO region.
African Economic Community (AEC)
The treaty establishing the African Economic Community provides
for a Committee on Education, Culture and Human Resources.
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
The Declaration and Treaty establishing the SADC includes a commitment
to strengthen and consolidate the long-standing historical, social
and cultural affinities and links among the peoples of the region.
At present Mozambique is responsible for SADC's Culture and Information
portfolio and has helped organize Culture and Arts Festivals such
as the SADC Music Festival in Harare and the Theatre Festival in
Maputo which have been successful events.
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
The IADB recognizes the key role that cultural values and education
play in socio-economic development. In their efforts to reduce poverty
and inequity, the Bank promotes human development, launching programs
that respect the unique character and traditional cultures of the
region and its basic values.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
APEC has expressed its belief in the need for protecting heritage
in its Code for Sustainable Tourism. Most notably, the code favours:
respect and support for local traditions, cultures and communities,
encourage of a tourism with a commitment to environments and cultures,
and finally, education and information of others about local environments
and cultures.
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