Article
World Heritage Sites
When we think of World Heritage sites we
think of the Pyramids, Stonehenge and other major places, in practice today
the list is much wider. There are around 900 around the world, and many of
these are not a single site, but a collection of sites. So Stonehenge is
part of a group that includes a range of sites both around
Stonehenge and Avebury as well as other major sites. The group Hadrian's Wall
is in, is even wider, encompassing Roman Frontiers, this includes Hadrian's
Wall and the Antonia Wall in Britain but also many other sections of wall or
Roman Frontiers across Europe and North Africa.
One of the UK World Heritage sites covers
the Cornwall and West Devon mining landscape, covering at least 10 valleys
and all the remains within them, while several others include more than 5
items. It is not necessarily places that you can visit, for example
the
Stonehenge
and
Avebury group includes "West Kennet Palisade Enclosures",
and there is nothing on the surface relating to these, as well as being on
land there is no access to. They
don't all necessarily tie up between history and the area covered, for
example the Romans built Hadrian's Wall 73 miles long, but the World
Heritage site includes this and then goes on in a ribbon a little over as far
again around the coast of Cumbria, 150 miles long in total. Perhaps half of
this extension is explainable in that there were mile posts and forts, but no
wall for an additional 40 miles. Including the individual forts, places in
the extension, as well as associated sites either side of the wall, several hundred places at least could put up the sign
saying they are a 'World Heritage' site and this is only one part of this
listing. Other countries are the same,
in Ghana, West Africa,
for example all the castles and forts are a single group, but nowhere can I
find a listing of the places that are included, and if I could they are not
all open. So
although we conceptually have around 900 places listed worldwide, the actual number is unknown but many
times this, not fully defined and including a mixture of places you can go
and places that you cannot, some of which if you went there, there would be
nothing to see. At first this may
seem illogical, why have a World Heritage site that in many cases you cannot identify easily and often there is no access to. The answer is that
although widely used to promote those places where there is tourism, this is
not their primary purpose, the main objective being to define and assist the
protection of a selection of Heritage sites. The problem in the UK is that with
most of the historically important items already being listed and protected,
we have our own system that is far more complete and valid, protecting far
more of the really valuable sites, as well as many others.
There is no financial aid to developed
countries like the UK, associated with World Heritage listings, although
there is limited aid available to poor countries to assist them in
protecting the heritage items in their countries. In Britain there are
two benefits, firstly in tourism promotion, but the selection of sites does
not seem to reflect this to any noticeable extent, and secondly in
channelling of monies from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. So for
example if you have an area and feel that moving or developing roads near a
site would require funding, or want to develop a new heritage facility where
none has up to now existed, then perhaps Lottery funding can be used instead
of other revenue, if a site that may be subject to World Heritage status is
involved.
Currently the places and collections of
places within England, Wales and Scotland that are listed as World Heritage
sites are:-
-
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in
Gwynedd
-
Durham Castle and Cathedral
-
Ironbridge Gorge
-
St Kilda
-
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
-
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins
of Fountains Abbey
-
Blenheim Palace
-
City of Bath
-
Frontiers of the Roman Empire
-
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey
and Saint Margaret's Church
-
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's
Abbey, and St Martin's Church
-
Tower of London
-
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
-
Maritime Greenwich
-
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
-
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
-
Derwent Valley Mills
-
Dorset and East Devon Coast
-
New Lanark
-
Saltaire
-
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
-
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City
-
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
-
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
A better description of what is included in
each of these and links to both location guides and other information can be
found in our listing World
Heritage Sites in the UK.
The method that is used to get item on the
list involves two steps, places or entries being added by a country to a
tentative list, and then after at least a year, countries putting forward
nominations from this tentative list of places within their area. The current
list of places the UK government has on its tentative list is detailed in our
listing Proposed World
Heritage Sites in the UK.
Looking at the workings of this in a
little more detail The World
Heritage listings are run by UNESCO, The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization. This is embodied in an international
treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage,
adopted by
UNESCO in 1972. This includes
natural as well as historic items so the Great Barrier Reef or a wet field
could qualify, however the criteria used to define what can and cannot be
considered a World Heritage Site is far wider.
The selection criteria is:-
-
to represent a masterpiece of
human creative genius;
-
to exhibit an important
interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a
cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or
technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
-
to bear a unique or at least
exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization
which is living or which has disappeared;
-
to be an outstanding example of
a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or
landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human
history;
-
to be an outstanding example of
a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is
representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction
with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable
under the impact of irreversible change;
-
to be directly or tangibly
associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with
beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal
significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should
preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
-
to contain superlative natural
phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic
importance;
-
to be outstanding examples
representing major stages of earth's history, including the record
of life, significant on-going geological processes in the
development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or
physiographic features;
-
to be outstanding examples
representing significant on-going ecological and biological
processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh
water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and
animals;
-
to contain the most important
and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of
biological diversity, including those containing threatened
species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of
science or conservation.
The protection, management,
authenticity and integrity of properties are also important
considerations.
Since 1992 significant interactions
between people and the natural environment have been recognized as
cultural landscapes. |
UNESCO's World Heritage mission
is to:
-
encourage countries to sign the
World Heritage Convention and to ensure the protection of their
natural and cultural heritage;
-
encourage States Parties to the
Convention to nominate sites within their national territory for
inclusion on the World Heritage List;
-
encourage States Parties to
establish management plans and set up reporting systems on the
state of conservation of their World Heritage sites;
-
help States Parties safeguard
World Heritage properties by providing technical assistance and
professional training;
-
provide emergency assistance for
World Heritage sites in immediate danger;
-
support States Parties' public
awareness-building activities for World Heritage conservation;
-
encourage participation of the
local population in the preservation of their cultural and natural
heritage;
-
encourage international
cooperation in the conservation of our world's cultural and
natural heritage.
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It is run by a committee made up of
national government representatives, and these change regularly.
There is no limit to the size of the list
but limits in the speed that it can grow.
A balancing mechanism to even up the amount
from different countries exist. So in their
operational guidelines
it says:-
59.
To promote the establishment of a representative,
balanced and credible World Heritage List, States Parties are
requested to consider whether their heritage is already well
represented on the List and if so to slow down their rate of
submission of further nominations by:
a) spacing voluntarily their nominations according to
conditions that they will define, and/or;
b) proposing only properties falling into categories
still under-represented, and/or;
c) linking each of their nominations with a
nomination presented by a State Party whose heritage is
underrepresented;
or
d) deciding, on a voluntary basis, to suspend the
presentation of new nominations.
60. States Parties whose
heritage of outstanding universal value is under-represented on the
World Heritage List are requested to:
a) give priority to the preparation of their
Tentative Lists and nominations;
b) initiate and consolidate partnerships at the
regional level based on the exchange of technical expertise;
c) encourage bilateral and multilateral co-operation
so as to increase their expertise and the technical capacities of
institutions in charge of the protection, safeguarding and
management of their heritage; and,
d) participate, as much as possible, in the sessions
of the World Heritage Committee.
61. The Committee has
decided to apply the following mechanism:
a) examine up to two complete
nominations per State Party, provided that at least one of such
nominations concerns a natural property, nevertheless, on an
experimental basis of 4 years, leaving to the State Party the
decision on the nature of the nomination, whether natural or
cultural, as per its national priorities, its history and geography
and,
b) set at 45 the annual limit on the number of
nominations it will review, inclusive of nominations deferred and
referred by previous sessions of the Committee, extensions (except
minor modifications of limits of the property), transboundary and
serial nominations,
c) the following order of priorities will be applied
in case the overall annual limit of 45 nominations is exceeded:
i) nominations of properties submitted by States
Parties with no properties inscribed on the List;
ii) nominations of properties submitted by States
Parties having up to 3 properties inscribed on the List,
iii) nominations of properties that have been
previously excluded due to the annual limit of 45 nominations and
the application of these priorities,
iv) nominations of properties for natural heritage,
v) nominations of properties for mixed heritage,
vi) nominations of transboundary/transnational properties,
vii) nominations from States Parties in Africa, the
Pacific and the Caribbean,
viii) nominations of properties submitted by States
Parties having ratified the World Heritage Convention during
the last ten years,
ix) nominations of properties submitted by States
Parties that have not submitted nominations for ten years or more,
x) when applying this priority system, date of
receipt of full and complete nominations by the World Heritage
Centre shall be used as a secondary factor to determine the priority
between those nominations that would not be designated by the
previous points.
d) the States Parties co-authors of a transboundary
or transnational serial nomination can choose, amongst themselves
and with a common understanding, the State Party which will be
bearing this nomination; and this nomination can be registered
exclusively within the ceiling of the bearing State Party.
The impact of this decision will be evaluated at the
Committee's 35th session (2011). |
Although I have picked just these few
paragraphs out of a document 173 pages long, its clear that the objective of
the list is neither to list the best or to produce a listing of items
above a standard or to list all important heritage in the world. So we have a
politically balanced up selection of some types of heritage.
This does not mean that the places
listed do not have merit, but they may not be either the most interesting or
most important places, and by using groups or areas with a large number of items
in, countries are able to get around the limits to a degree and include far more
places.
So is it relevant to us, do we really
care if places are on this list, and have this status or not. The answer is
probably not, however its worth taking a look at those places our government
chooses both to list and to add to the tentative list, there are some that we
may not have come across that are worth research and a visit, while others we
may take a look at and pass by, knowing they only made the list so as to justify
moving cash around.
Overall we are disappointed with the
way this works, it could have been so much better, more useful and meaningful,
but then again its run by governments and governments are run by politicians.
The UK is currently working on a
group of new items to add to its tentative list, so it will be interesting
perhaps to look at what they choose to add next.
See also
Feature location related articles
World Heritage Sites - Further Information
Lists
World Heritage Sites in the UK
Proposed World Heritage Sites in the UK
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