Stronger efforts urged in heritage protection

Stronger international collaboration is needed to protect the world's cultural and natural heritage as climate change and armed conflicts pose unprecedented threats to heritage sites, officials and experts said during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee.

They also told China Daily that the Global Civilization Initiative, proposed by China in 2023, can help foster dialogue among different cultures.

"It has become extremely important to have international cooperation to face all these large-scale issues," said Alessandro Balsamo, head of the Nominations Unit at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. No country can tackle such challenges alone without support from the global community, he said.

During the session, which runs through Wednesday in Busan, South Korea, six new sites, including those in South Sudan, Lebanon and Suriname, were added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger. Three were inscribed on an emergency basis because of major threats from climate change and armed conflict.

With seven World Heritage sites despite its land area of just 10,000 square kilometers, Lebanon needs international cooperation to protect their identity and authenticity, especially from the destruction caused by conflict, said Jad Tabet, the country's former representative to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Scott Heron, UNESCO chair on climate change vulnerability of natural and cultural heritage, said the climate emergency "requires an urgent response".

Using UNESCO World Heritage-listed coral reefs as an example, Heron said heritage sites can share experience in managing environmental stress and community pressures, particularly during extreme heat driven by global warming.

World Heritage properties are also "places of opportunity" to address climate change, he said, when asked about China's efforts in supporting carbon sink monitoring and reducing emissions across its protected areas and World Heritage sites.

He emphasized that the World Heritage system is not just about the places; it is ultimately about people today and future generations, and therefore requires international cooperation to help each other as members of the global community.

Tim Badman, director of the World Heritage Programme at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said digital and intelligent technologies are increasingly essential for understanding, monitoring and safeguarding natural and cultural heritage, enabling site managers to detect risks early, make evidence-based decisions and improve conservation outcomes.

The IUCN is finalizing a global guidance document on applying digital solutions to nature conservation, drawing on experience from 13 project sites in 11 countries and based on a six-year collaboration with Chinese technology company Huawei.

At Mexico's Dzilam site, for example, AI-powered camera traps and a bio-scanner platform have identified 16 individual jaguars and more than 140 other species, Badman said.

Shared legacy

Balsamo from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre said the World Heritage Convention is founded on the principle that cultural and natural heritage is the shared legacy of humanity. In that regard, he said, the Global Civilization Initiative, or GCI, aligns with the convention's spirit and can play an important role in the framework.

Badman echoed that view, saying heritage protection is closely aligned with the GCI because World Heritage sites are the shared natural and cultural legacy of humanity, and their conservation depends on collaboration among countries and cultures.

"In practice, anything that brings together international, national and local consensus of support that focuses on mutual learning, inclusiveness and equality supports good results for international heritage," Badman said.

However, challenges remain in international cooperation, said Tabet, the former representative to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

"With globalization … the question of the balance between national culture and universalism has become a very tricky one," he said, noting that the solution lies in international cooperation to safeguard diverse identities while fostering dialogue between cultures.

The GCI can help in advancing that goal, he added.

YANG HAN in Busan, South Korea

kelly@chinadailyapac.com