Transcript World Heritage Periodic Reporting Reflection Year Berlin, Germany, 10-11 November 2005 Insight from the first Periodic Reporting for Africa (2002-2007) by Lazare Eloundou Assomo UNESCO World.

World Heritage Periodic Reporting Reflection Year
Berlin, Germany, 10-11 November 2005
Insight from the first Periodic
Reporting for Africa (2002-2007)
by
Lazare Eloundou Assomo
UNESCO World Heritage, Africa Section
Introduction
• The report for Periodic Reporting in the Africa Region
was presented to the World Heritage Committee at its
26th Session
• The Periodic Report was the result of an exercise
undertaken in 18 African countries from 1999 to 2002.
• The exercise concerned 40 properties (23 natural, 16
cultural and 1 mixed) inscribed prior to 1993
Lessons learnt at the time of reporting for Africa:
• Periodic Reporting should not be limited only to
countries with properties or those with properties
inscribed on the List, or only those inscribed prior to
1994;
• Policy and legislative measures for heritage
conservation should be given more attention
• High central government-driven initiatives concerning
properties did not take into consideration involvement
of the local communities or NGOs;
There was:
• Inadequate professional personnel, skills and
equipment for conserving and managing World
Heritage properties;
• Lack of scientific information to enhance and update
the management knowledge and methods;
• Lack of financial resources to manage properties and
techniques for mobilizing international support;
• Lack of education and public awareness concerning
World Heritage values;
•
Values for inscribing properties were poorly
understood and where they existed were poorly
defined, particularly for those sites inscribed in the
1970s and 1980s;
•
There were no appropriate mechanisms for
addressing natural and human threats to World
Heritage properties;
•
Frameworks for bi- and multilateral cooperation for
designing trans-border properties did not exist; and
•
Countries that ratified the Convention since the early
days appeared not to nominate properties for
inscription.
Challenges emphasized
• Mainstreaming World Heritage protection within the
public and private sectors of the countries and the
regions;
• Convincing private sectors to incorporate heritage
protection in their activities;
• Providing long-term conservation financing
programmes for African properties, such as by
establishing an African World Heritage Fund;
• Promoting urban planning for the sake of both urban
and rural heritage;
• Promoting transparency and governance in heritage
resource management;
• Promoting more proactive use of environmental
assessment tools for decision-making processes; and,
• Effective management through training, regional and
sub-regional accountability, cooperation, coordination
and agreements.
Follow-up of Periodic Reporting is based on the following
five-point Action Plan adopted by the Committee:
•
Adopt general policy which aims to give the cultural
and natural heritage a function in the life of the
community and integrate the protection of that
heritage into comprehensive planning programmes;
•
Where non-existent, set up one more more services
within its territory for the protection,conservation and
preservation of the cultural and natural heritage, with
appropriate staff with the power to execute such
functions;
•
Develop scientific and technical studies and research
and work out operational methods to enable the State
to counteract the dangers that threaten its cultural and
natural heritage;
•
Take appropriate legal, scientific, technical,
administrative and financial measures necessary to
identify, protect, conserve, present and rehabilitate
this heritage;
•
Encourage the establishment or development of
national or regional centres for training in the
protection, conservation and presentation of the
cultural and natural heritage and encourage scientific
research in this field.
The Action Plan addresses the following challenges:
•
Establishing and strengthening cooperation
networks for better sharing of resources;
•
Training for more skilled and efficient manpower for
the protection and conservation of World Heritage
properties;
•
Promoting wider participation to ensure long and
sustained conservation of World Heritage in Africa;
•
Enhancing management to address deficiencies at the
national and property levels;
•
Promoting scientific research and
enhance knowledge on properties; and
•
Updating methods
information sharing.
for
property
reporting
protection
and
to
and
State of the implementation of the Convention and the
conservation of inscribed properties
As of 2002:
• 37 of 46 States
Parties had ratified
the Convention
• 57 properties
inscribed in the list -
As of 2005:
• 40 of 46 States
Parties have ratified
or accepted the
Convention
• 65 properties have
been inscribed
This in its own way is
proof of the growing
political will of the majority
of African countries to
conserve and protect
properties of heritage
universal value under the
Convention.
The remaining Member
States of UNESCO are to
ratify the Convention:
Guinea Bissau, Guinea
Equatorial, Sao Tome et
Principe, Djibouti, Somalia,
and Swaziland.
Existing opportunities for implementing the
Convention
Analysis of the Periodic Reporting Exercise helped to
identify the training needs for World Heritage. It
confirmed:
• the need to continue implementing the Global
Strategy,
• the relevance of the Africa 2009 Programme
• the need to have a similar programme for natural
heritage.
External circumstances in which the Africa Periodic Report
is operating
•
It is clearly recognised that economic development
and the eradication of poverty are the "first and most
important priorities" for developing Africa.
•
How, therefore, can countries be persuaded to put
forward their wild lands and landscapes for
outstanding universal value for conservation and
protection for humanity and for future generations, as
promoted by the Convention, while the current
generation can hardly survive?
The perception of environmental problems
•
No analysis of the social and environmental
conditions of Africa can overlook the fact that the
continent has been in the throes of a profound and
relentless crisis for the past two decades.
•
Most countries have had to lock themselves into
programmes of economic stabilisation or structural
adjustment. In this context, governments must
concentrate their efforts on daily, short-term wellbeing. Planning for the future is often considered
impossible.
•
African governments re-assert their legitimate right to
use their natural resources for development and are
wary of over-zealous environmental protection
measures that could impede African economic
development.
Heritage and the local community
•
As of today, the principles of community participation
and partnerships in managing heritage resources
have yet to be assimilated by countries
•
Few countries in Africa are taking measures to grant
more decision-making power to local communities
and bring them closer to the administration. Heritage
properties in this regard are considered as an
obstacle by the local communities, rather than an
asset.
Inventorying properties of outstanding universal value
The Tentative List exercise confirmed that African
countries need a better knowledge of their heritage
resources and their degree of degradation. This need
for more precise knowledge, identified while
implementing the Action Plan, is equally apparent with
regard to formulating effective strategies for the
conservation and protection of their heritage.
Funding through the World Heritage Fund
•
The World Heritage Convention’s Fund cannot 'in
itself' respond to all the financial questions that arise
in Africa.
•
What is lacking in the Convention is an in-built
mechanism whereby the developed countries be
requiredto assist African countries, and a system
within UNESCO for mobilizing resources for the World
Heritage Fund apart from voluntary contributions
•
Due to the slow response for requests from African
countries to access the WH Fund due to lack of
capacities and other inabilities to swiftly respond to
criteria for eligibility, funds, especially for Cultural
Heritage protection, are often exhausted by the time
these requests are effectively and efficiently made.
Funding other than through the World Heritage Fund
•
some activities have already been carried out in
various African countries since the launching of the
Periodic Report. This has been possible thanks to the
support of bi-lateral and multi-lateral co-operation
institutions through specific projects
•
Despite this, the absence of an adequate financial
mechanism for sustainability on the long–term poses
a great obstacle to the effective implementation of the
Convention and the conservation and protection of
sites in Africa
African World Heritage Fund (AWHF)
•
The creation of the fund was unanimously adopted by
the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee;
the 7th General Conference of States Parties and the
33rd session of the General Conference
•
The Fund is expected to be the principal funding
source for actions aimed at the conservation and
protection of the African heritage with sustainable
development as a priority.
The success of the Fund will be among the
major outcomes of the Periodic Reporting
exercise.
Cooperation for Transboundary inscriptions
•
Africa has only two transboundary properties, despite
its potential for transboundary (TSB) cooperation in
cultural and natural protection and conservation.
•
Lack
of
arrangements
to
ensure
heritage
management, evaluation and follow-up of the
application of institutional frameworks for TSB-coordination and consultation mechanisms.
•
Establishing such institutional frameworks can assist
Africa to internationalize decisions within the
Convention framework itself, aiming to achieve better
coordination of regional and national participation in
debates and negotiations on World Heritage, as well
as to reconcile concerns for heritage conservation
with development objectives.
Research and Training for Heritage issues
•
African Research and Training institutions have yet to
take a full interest in heritage conservation and
development.
•
The Periodic Reporting exercise has contributed to
the identification of a few African Training and
Research institutions. Universities have started to
become involved in World Heritage related issues
(EPA, CHDA, Mweka College, University of Cape Town,
University of Zimbabwe, University of Makarere).
Conclusion
•
The implementation of the Action Plan of the Africa
Periodic Report has benefited from the three major
programme supports, namely: the Global Strategy,
Africa Nature Programme and Africa 2009.
•
There is a strong correlation between the
developmental needs of the continent and the
implementation of the Convention and conservation
and protection of sites.
•
Greater coordination of the Convention is required in
countries in order to be able to assess the state of its
implementation and to be able to address overlapping
issues such as cultural landscapes and mixed sites.
•
The Periodic Report has yet to be well adapted to its
broker activities as regards the operational
framework;
•
The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), currently
under preparation, is a clear case where Africa is
taking heritage issues into its own hands and should
be encouraged