Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 1972); List of the 145 States Parties at 27 January 1996

The success of UNESCO's 1972 World Heritage Convention has made an entry into the World Heritage List a coveted distinction for tourism, nation-building and economic development. This article traces the evolution of the treaty from sharing responsibility for humanity's most prized sites to sharing the World Heritage List as an exercise in global representation. Growing North–South tensions within the World Heritage Committee are currently producing yet another shift, towards sharing the right among treaty states to have their candidate sites listed and wishes fulfilled. While formerly an especially cosmopolitan section of normally often nationally oriented heritage experts was in command, the new turn coincides with the ascendancy of career diplomats, that is people with cosmopolitan aspirations who, conversely, strive to serve national interests. They too are cosmopolitan at times, but typically for broader concerns such as world peace or global equity that transcend the focus of the Convention.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01419870.2014.934261

Shifting tides of world-making in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: cosmopolitanisms colliding

Traditional rice production has shaped distinctive cultural landscapes in SE Asia. Rice cultivation is closely linked to socio-cultural values and has created specific agrobiodiversity. Increasing development pressures lead to an intensification of small-scale production systems and with this to changes of landscapes and associated ecosystems services. With a focus on cultural ecosystem services and along different land use gradients a qualitative assessment of farmer’s perceptions regarding cultural values of their landscapes was conducted. Interviews focused on traditional farming methods and the abundance of cultural values and perceptions that support the preservation of low-input, sustainable land management strategies. 73 indicators for Cultural Identity, Landscape Aesthetics, and Knowledge Systems were derived, revealing that socio-cultural structures and the socioeconomic situation of farmers influence their view on landscape-related cultural services. The qualitative approach of this research provides an important contribution to the field of ecosystem service assessments because these are the values people perceive based on culturally embedded and socially shaped preferences. For the implementation of ecological engineering, which is based on participation and on the belief into the natural resilience of ecosystems, the assessment of cultural ecosystem services provides important evidence in which areas this theoretical concept could find higher acceptance.

“Things are different now”: Farmer perceptions of cultural ecosystem services of traditional rice landscapes in Vietnam and the Philippines

This article offers new historical analysis of global heritage by tracking the evolution of heritage concepts. Specifically, it analyses the introduction of the category of ‘cultural landscapes’ in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1992, using it as a lens through which to view the process of international (re)negotiation of the meaning of heritage. It shows that this reform resulted from the cooperation of competing actors – including experts, non-governmental organizations, and governments – that harboured different visions of culture and nature and their interrelationship. It also demonstrates that the recognition of cultural landscapes as a heritage category marked the new assertiveness of actors from post-settler states in North America and Oceania, as opposed to Europe, which had dominated global heritage until that point.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1740022813000387

Negotiating the meaning of global heritage: ‘cultural landscapes’ in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, 1972–92*

The conservation of agricultural heritage is an emerging field that offers opportunities for integrating heritage values into strategies for environmental, economic and social sustainability in rural areas in the US. Even though farmsteads and ranches are iconic representations of rural communities, little attention has been given to the cultural heritage values of agricultural landscapes or in agricultural policy. Climate change, global market drivers and significant demographic shifts threaten agrarian resources. Today, there is an urgent need to address the loss of agricultural land and enhance the sustainability of agricultural systems. This article argues that it is timely to consider heritage as an integral part of developing strategies to adapt agricultural systems and make them more resilient. Some promising recent efforts demonstrate that heritage designations, partnerships and stewardship programmes offer strategic advantages and should be an integral part of a broader set of agricultura...

Mitchell Nora

Papers

World Heritage Cultural Landscapes A Handbook for Conservation and Management