May 5 (Reuters) - Malian fighters from the Ansar Dine Islamist group attacked and burned the tomb of one of the town's saints, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, residents and a regional official said on Saturday.

The militants broke off doors, windows and wooden gates from the grave and burned them, they said, in the first reported attack on a shrine in Mali.
El Hadj Baba Haidara, an elected member of parliament from Timbuktu told Reuters some young people were discussing how to react despite being unarmed.
"There is a risk the people may revolt because this is something that affects their dignity. This tomb is sacred, it is too difficult to bear," Haidara said.

Ansar Dine, along with Tuareg rebels and other armed groups, swept through northern Mali in March and April, seizing the northern half of the country and its ancient towns of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal after the government collapsed in a March 22 coup.

While the rebel MNLA has declared an independent state in the north, al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine - led by veteran Tuareg leader Iyad Ag Ghaly - has rejected that idea and said the group's objective was to impose Islamic law in Mali.

Read more, here.

One of the most significant global committees that you never heard of summoned a couple of hundred experts to the island of Menorca, Spain last week. The meeting involved politics, the remnants of great civilizations, human catastrophes, architectural triumphs, religious works of art and architecture, use of tourism, the rise and fall of empires, and did we say politics?

The International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management, or ICAHM, hosted its first conference on how to manage the world’s myriad archaeological World Heritage sites. This wildly varied array of places encompasses many of the most celebrated sites of human cultural accomplishment and catastrophe—everything from the pyramids and Roman fortifications to Mongol-era tombs and prehistoric rock art. ICAHM’s key job is to advise the World Heritage Committee about new sites proposed for the famous list. I attended as a guest of the Congress, which paid for my travel.

Right at the outset, ICAHM co-president Dr. Willem J.H. Willems of Leiden, Netherlands, put the core issue on the table. “Archaeology is the study of the past,” he said in his April 9 keynote, but “the past doesn’t exist anymore. Heritage is about the use of the past in the present.” And that’s where it gets interesting. And risky.

Too many countries are rushing to use the past—their heritage sites—for present purposes. Willems sharply criticized the way that sites are proposed and awarded World Heritage inscription. According to the World Heritage Convention, an international treaty, sites should be awarded a place on the list based on solid scientific and academic reasoning. Not happening, said Willems. The World Heritage Committee has been approving too many applications based on economic and “radically political” expediency.

For most countries, World Heritage status is a hotly desired prize. A background note may be necessary for some of the American audience here, where a myth prevails that a World Heritage listing means giving up sovereignty to UNESCO. In fact, World Heritage inscription simply means your country gets the sites that it requests “inscribed” on the World Heritage list. The conditions are that the sites are of “outstanding universal value” and that you take good care of them. If you don’t, the worst UNESCO can do is propose removal from the list.

Most countries, especially impoverished developing nations, are eager to put their greatest natural and cultural places on the list. Why? Prestige in part, national pride in part, yes, but also that modern vein of gold: tourism! An inscription puts you on the travel map.

Read more, here.

Culture lies on the front line of conflicts across the world. Timbuktu has fallen into the hands of Tuareg rebel forces and shots have been fired around the city’s grand mosque, a Unesco World Heritage Site. This follows on the heels of the shelling of the city of Apamea in Syria. The citadel of Madiq and the ancient villages in the north of Syria, all of which are Unesco World Heritage Sites, could become collateral damage. They need our protection.

It may seem incongruous to denounce crimes against culture and call for their protection at a time of political instability and humanitarian crisis, but it isn’t.

Protecting culture is a security issue. There can be no lasting peace without respect. Attacks against cultural heritage are attacks against the very identity of communities. They mark a symbolic and real step up in the escalation of a conflict, leading to devastation that can be irreparable and whose impact lasts long after the dust has settled.

Attacks on the past make reconciliation much harder in the future. They can hold societies back from turning the page toward peace.

Read the rest of the article, here.

International scholars learn conservation and tourism practices at Hawaii Volcanoes National ParkPosted on 5:25 pm, Monday, April 9, 2012.

Jovel AnanayoHawaii National Park, HI – Two scholars from World Heritage Sites in China and the Philippines are studying how Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, also a World Heritage Site, operates. Once they return to their countries, they will share how the National Park Service successfully integrates conservation and tourism.Jovel Ananayo, 35, is a National Park Service World Heritage Fellow from the Philippines, and a tourism post-graduate student at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He works as the tourism specialist for the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo), a nongovernmental organization embarking on the conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. The rice terraces are more than 2,000 years old and represent “an absolute blending of humankind and the environment,” according to UNESCO. But they face many challenges, from introduced invasive pests, tourism pressure on natural and cultural resources, diminishing indigenous knowledge systems, very limited financial resources, and more.“What amazes me here is how all the divisions and experts work together. You have experts on cultural and natural resource management and the eruption crew all providing information to the interpretation team who very effectively share their knowledge with visitors. That’s how it should be,” Ananayo said. “In Ifugao, efforts are much more fragmented, but we hope to improve on our collaboration and on how we integrate cultural and natural heritage in our tourism activities drawing from the model of the Hawai‘i Volcanoes,” he said.

Li LijuanLi Lijuan, 27, works for Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve in China’s Yunnan Province, part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a World Heritage Site. Lijuan took a leave of absence to participate in the East West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program, where she studied political, global and regional emerging issues, trends, and leadership last semester. This semester, she’s serving as an intern at Hawai‘i Volcanoes to better understand how the U.S. national park system operates. Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve emphasizes preservation and restoration, and is probing how to balance protecting natural resources, provide access, and sustainable utilization.“The United States has a very good national park system, and you excel at balance. Here people can appreciate nature,” she said.This year, Hawai‘i Volcanoes celebrates its 25th anniversary of becoming a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, recognized internationally for its outstanding universal value. The park is one of only 21 World Heritage sites in the United States, and 936 worldwide. Today, visitors, students and volunteers from around the world come to experience its natural and cultural wonders, found nowhere else on earth.

To see National Geographic's website on World Heritage, click here.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3be6aaf4-772a-11e1-baf3-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1qytnQay1
A world heritage site award from Unesco is seen as a boon for tourism and those looking to raise the status of a city, but there can be unforeseen consequences when it comes to development.

To help mark the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, the National Park Service, HISTORY, and the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO want to hear from you!


Simply film a short video (no more than 2 minutes) to explain why you think a particular U.S. World Heritage site is important to the world.

Winners may have their videos shown on the History Channel.

For more information, click here.

Everglades National Park is poised to become more of a tourism focus as a first-time national marketing effort to draw visitors to the United States — with an emphasis on national parks — gets under way.At a group discussion Monday that included representatives from Miami-Dade County and a United Nations agency, experts tossed around ideas about how to bring more attention to the park both internationally and locally.Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, came to South Florida to visit the 1.5 million-acre park during a 10-day tour of the United States.

Everglades National Park is one of just 21 sites in the United States on UNESCO’s World Heritage list — and the nation’s only property included on the “sites in danger” list.Calling it “one of our jewels on the World Heritage list,” Bokova said the park has the potential to bring more revenue and jobs through tourism — as long as there is an emphasis on sustainable growth to protect the fragile wetlands. About a million people visit Everglades National Park each year; 30 percent of those are from outside the United States, said park Superintendent Dan Kimball.

Many of those international visitors come to the park because it is a World Heritage site, Kimball said. But he wondered how to improve that brand’s recognition within the United States and South Florida. “We do not have an appropriation for marketing,” he said. “Our idea of marketing is putting a brown sign on the highway.”William D. Talbert III, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, acknowledged that not even locals familiar with the park know of its World Heritage designation.

He suggested including the World Heritage brand on all of the park’s material, including letterhead and business cards.He also pointed out the interest — and money — growing to highlight natural resources such as Everglades National Park. In mid-January, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that took several steps to increase tourism to the United States, including promoting national parks.

A public-private marketing partnership called Brand USA created two years ago to promote the entire country as a destination is preparing to roll out its first marketing and advertising campaign later this year. The group expects to invest as much as $200 million in marketing every year.For now, Kimball thought of at least one thing he can do easily.“Why am I not putting in my email block that I’m superintendent of a World Heritage site?” he said. “I’ll do that this afternoon.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/19/2702787/everglades-national-park-seeks.html#storylink=cpy

By Ken Salazar

Most Americans recognize Independence Hall as one of the most famous symbols of Philadelphia, the nation's birth, and the freedom we share as a people. Philadelphians may know it as the top tourist destination in the city, attracting 3.7 million visitors who spend $146 million every year and support more than 2,100 jobs. But we can do more to welcome tourists from across the country and especially around the globe to places like Independence Hall.

President Obama wants America to be the top tourist destination in the world, and Philadelphia's history and culture make it a great place to start. Today I will join Irina Bokova, the director general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at Independence National Historic Park to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, which recognizes nearly 1,000 sites around the world for their natural or cultural significance. Independence Hall is one of just 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in America.

While many Americans may not be aware of the designation, it carries great weight internationally. In Europe and Asia, many families plan their vacations around World Heritage Sites, and communities and businesses develop marketing strategies to take advantage of the prestigious designation.
Unfortunately, even though the United States was the driving force behind the establishment of the convention in 1972, we haven't done enough to market our sites internationally. At Independence Hall, which isn't as well known to foreigners as the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, just 7 percent of the visitors are from other countries.

International tourists tend to stay longer and spend more than their domestic counterparts. In 2010, nearly 60 million foreign visitors pumped more than $134 billion into the U.S. economy, making tourism America's No. 1 service export.

There's no reason we can't make it even bigger, creating more jobs at hotels and resorts, car rental companies, airlines, restaurants, and other businesses. If our economy is going to continue to get stronger, we must tap into every opportunity for growth. And the more people visit America, the more Americans we can get back to work.

Will celebrate 40th Anniversary of UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention which draws visitors from around the globe to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.


WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, Mar. 15, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis will host a town hall meeting at Independence National Historical Park to discuss how to boost travel and tourism as a means to strengthen local economies and create jobs in Philadelphia.

Secretary Salazar and Director Jarvis will join Congressman Chaka Fattah and Irina Bokova, the Director General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), who is visiting Independence Hall to mark the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. The World Heritage Convention, the international treaty that established the World Heritage List, seeks to recognize and protect unique places around the world for future generations, such as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India, the Acropolis in Greece and the Grand Canyon.

As one of only eight U.N.-designated cultural World Heritage sites in the United States, Independence Hall draws more than 3.7 million visitors each year, generates $146 million in economic activity and supports more than 2,100 jobs. Independence National Historical Park is one of 18 National Parks in Pennsylvania that serve as premier destinations for international tourists to explore our nation’s cultural heritage.

In January, President Obama directed his administration to create a new national tourism strategy focused on creating jobs by becoming even more welcoming to guests from here at home and from all over the globe. As part of this initiative, Secretary Salazar and Secretary of Commerce John Bryson are working to develop recommendations for a National Travel and Tourism Strategy to promote domestic and international travel opportunities throughout the United States, thereby expanding job creation, with a particular focus on strategies for increasing tourism and recreation jobs by promoting visits to our national treasures, such as Independence Hall.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, March 5, 2012 (ENS) - Colombia's Council of State has ordered a halt to exploration for oil and gas in the country's Quindío region, which has been declared part of the UNESCO World Heritage Coffee Cultural Landscape. The region produces some of the world's highest quality coffee.

Issued last week, the government decree requires the suspension of all exploration by the National Agency of Hydrocarbons and the Drilling 2010 consortium in the Quindío region, an exploration project which covers a large area.

Presented by Quindío's Office of the Ombudsman, the decree supports the concerns of many of the region's landowners regarding land access. The landowners also fear that environmental deterioration could result the proposed drilling of 15 meter (50 foot) deep holes and insertion of an explosive product, Sismigel Plus.

The World Heritage Commission said, "It must be remembered that President Juan Manuel Santos ordered that no mining projects be carried out on property declared as UNESCO World Heritage."

The project is on hold awaiting a statement by the Colombian government.
In the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains the Quindío region lies in the center of a triangle formed by Colombia's three main cities - Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.
The region is one of the most important producers of Colombian coffee. The department belongs to the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, which is the center of production and export of the highest quality coffee in Colombia.

The World Heritage property reflects a 100-year-old tradition of coffee growing in small plots in the high forest and the way farmers have adapted cultivation to difficult mountain conditions.

It encompasses six farming landscapes, which include 18 urban centers on the foothills of the western and central ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes situated on the relatively flat tops of hills above sloping coffee fields.

This is a First Notice for the public to comment on the next potential U.S. nominations from the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List.

For more information, click here.

WWF today challenged the Australian Government’s view that the Great Barrier Reef is being sustainably managed, citing publications showing that coral had declined by up to 50 per cent.
As UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee prepares to visit Queensland next month, after expressing “extreme concern” at port development and dredging impacts in the World Heritage area, the Australian Government submission to UNESCO claims the Reef was being sustainably managed.

But a recent article, published in the scientific journal Coral Reefs last year, found coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef had declined by up to 50 per cent since the 1960s*. The article cited monitoring that showed coral declines had continued in recent times, decreasing by around a quarter since the Great Barrier Reef was declared a World Heritage site in 1981.
“The Government’s conclusion is simply not supported by the science,” leader of WWF’s Great Barrier Reef program Nick Heath said.

“The Government’s report fails to acknowledge growing evidence that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger, including its own 2009 Outlook Report that warned of ‘catastrophic’ damage.”
“Coral cover has been slashed in half over the past 50 years, over a thousand starving turtles have washed up on Queensland beaches over the past year, rare marine species continue to be killed in fishing nets, and the State Government has been unable to explain high levels of disease in marine life around Gladstone, nor rule out industrial development as the cause.

“It’s hard to see how the Australian Government can claim in its report that the Great Barrier Reef will be passed on to future generations ‘retaining the values for which it was declared a World Heritage Area’,” Mr Heath said.

The government submission, State Party Report on the State of Conservation of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, also said LNG development and dredging at Gladstone were thoroughly assessed and had not ‘compromised’ the Reef’s World Heritage Values.
The UNESCO visit in March will put the spotlight squarely on the management of the Great Barrier Reef, and WWF is urging all levels of government to step up and commit to tougher policies on pollution and damaging fishing practices or risk the continuing demise of the World Heritage asset.

To better protect the Great Barrier Reef, WWF wants the next Queensland Government to:

- Cut Reef pollution through greater investment in farm innovation;
- Protect fish stocks, turtles and dugongs by taking fishing nets out of sensitive habitats;
- Save turtles and dugongs from illegal poaching with more Indigenous rangers;
- Establish a new ‘Reef Bank’ to invest money from the mining boom into Reef resilience programs.

Serengeti — FRANKFURT Zoological Society (FZS) has commended the government of Tanzania for its commitment to conserve Serengeti National Park, which is one of the world's heritage sites.

"FZS congratulates Tanzania for its efforts in conserving this important park and a world heritage site", FZS Director Dr Christof Schenck remarked. Dr Schenck said this shortly after attending a high profile regional conservation workshop at Seronera where the park's headquarters are situated.

The workshop lasted for four days. He underscored the importance of keeping Serengeti intact, refraining from bisecting it with a highway, which could cause disastrous effects on the park's ecosystem. "It is important that the Serengeti National Park stays free of any commercial long distance roads. It is by so doing that the migration of more than 1.5 million wildebeest which is a unique event on this planet can be maintained", Dr Schenck said in a statement made available to the 'Daily News' on Monday morning.

The donor community including the US government, World Bank and the Germany government have expressed willingness several times to help the government of Tanzania to address social and economic problems facing marginalized communities residing in the Eastern and Northern sides of Serengeti if a commercial road will not be built through the park, stated part of the statement.

FZS also supports the idea of constructing an alternative road on the southern part just like how various donor community countries have suggested. "If the Southern alternative is being built, the communities around Serengeti will be developed and the integrity of the Serengeti ecosystem will be maintained. Tanzania will be a role model for Africa in the combination of natural resource protection and development", the FZS chief said.

He described Serengeti as a global resource and most amazing park in the world, hence called for concerted efforts to protect it for the present and coming generations. With its headquarters in Germany, FZS has been spending an average of one million Euros to support conservation activities meant to protect the world famous park which is also rated as the leading country tourist destination.

Besides posting relevant news items about World Heritage Sites from around the globe on our Blog, we thought it might be fun and hopefully interesting to occasionally interject our thoughts and musings once in awhile.




So, therefore, I'm off to ramble about all things World Heritage.

The big news in the National Park Service Office of International Affairs is the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. We're excited and are planning several events throughout the year. Plus, we've posted a new website celebrating the event and we're holding two contests as well. We're looking for videos which we can post on YouTube and for new photos which we can feature on our website. Check our new website for more information.

In mid-March, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova will be visiting Independence Hall as part of the celebration. After visiting that park, she'll be off to the Everglades to continue the event. If you live near either of those parks, we encourage you to go and check it out.


Finally, one of our summer interns from last year is in Tanzania on a study-abroad semester. We put him in charge of this Blog last year and though he is no longer interning with us, we hope that once he returns from overseas, he'll have some stories or images to share. He promised he would visit as many Tanzanian World Heritage Sites as possible, so we're awaiting his return.

Thanks for visiting our Blog. We welcome your comments as well and any images or videos you want to share with us.

AZTEC RUINS — It shares membership in the same exclusive club with such notables as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Wall of China.
And it's right in our backyard.

Twenty-five years ago, Aztec Ruins National Monument received designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a special celebration in honor of this event will take place Friday at the ruins.

"We are really excited about this anniversary, and we want to celebrate by reminding people of what they have right here at home," said Aztec Ruins Superintendent Larry Turk. "Friday's celebration will be a chance to invite locals back who might have not visited the ruins in a while, and it will also hopefully bring in some new people who have never before seen the ruins."

There are only 21 World Heritage sites in the United States, including the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone and Mesa Verde national parks. Aztec Ruins shares the designation with Chaco Cultural National Historic Park, along with several smaller Chaco sites.

World Heritage distinguishes natural and cultural sites that are of outstanding universal value to all humankind. They represent unique historical periods and rare natural landscapes.
New Mexico has more World Heritage sites than any other state, with Carlsbad Caverns and Taos Pueblo joining the Chaco Culture sites as designees.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

KRASNODAR, Russia, February 3, 2012 (ENS) - The Russian government is preparing to allow construction of a cluster of ski resorts and roads in the Caucasus region that will alter one of Europe's few untouched mountain wilderness areas. The development is expected to impact two biosphere nature reserves, two national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and a World Heritage Site.
Previously, the construction of tourist infrastructure in protected areas has been either illegal or restricted by Russian federal environmental laws.

"Russian nature resources and environment ministry recently gave the Russian government a list of construction projects currently allowed to be placed in nature reserves," says Suren Gazaryan of the nonprofit Environmental Watch on North Caucasus.
Gazaryan expects that a decree formally authorizing this list will soon be signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. By doing so, Putin will be signing "a death warrant" for Russia's Western Caucasus World Heritage Site, said the conservationist.

Also, "This will allow construction of ski lifts and slopes, as well as road and engineering infrastructure, to be built on the territory of two biosphere nature reserves, Kavkazsky and Teberdinsky, in the Russian Caucasus," Gazaryan says.

Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999, the Western Caucasus site has what the UN agency calls "a remarkable diversity of geology, ecosystems and species. It is of global significance as a centre of plant diversity ... containing extensive tracts of undisturbed mountain forests unique on the European scale."

Read more, here.

Liverpool's world heritage site waterfront will be "irreversibly damaged" unless urgent modifications are made to a multibillion-pound skyscraper scheme, a delegation from Unesco has warned.
The delegation said the skyscraper proposal would result in "a serious loss of historic authenticity".

The Unesco inspectors praised the "more or less symmetrical profile" of the city's waterfront, with the Three Graces – the Port of Liverpool and the Liver and Cunard buildings – at centre stage and historical docklands to the north complementing those to the south.

The Graces were "at the heart of the shipping and harbour operations during the height of [Liverpool's] glory, surrounded by dockyards and port structures", they said.

But they warned that if the £5.5bn Peel Holdings development, including tall buildings such as the Shanghai Tower, went ahead, this profile would be shifted to the north by introducing a secondary cluster of high-rises, with towers three times the size of the Three Graces.

They would "[relegate] the Three Graces to playing second violin", the inspectors found, "thereby losing an important visual and historical reference to the city's glorious past".

The Unesco report said the views of the Three Graces from Kings Dock would disappear amid the supertowers.

Read more, here.

Liverpool's world heritage site waterfront will be "irreversibly damaged" unless urgent modifications are made to a multibillion-pound skyscraper scheme, a delegation from Unesco has warned.
The delegation said the skyscraper proposal would result in "a serious loss of historic authenticity".

The Unesco inspectors praised the "more or less symmetrical profile" of the city's waterfront, with the Three Graces – the Port of Liverpool and the Liver and Cunard buildings – at centre stage and historical docklands to the north complementing those to the south.

The Graces were "at the heart of the shipping and harbour operations during the height of [Liverpool's] glory, surrounded by dockyards and port structures", they said.

But they warned that if the £5.5bn Peel Holdings development, including tall buildings such as the Shanghai Tower, went ahead, this profile would be shifted to the north by introducing a secondary cluster of high-rises, with towers three times the size of the Three Graces.

They would "[relegate] the Three Graces to playing second violin", the inspectors found, "thereby losing an important visual and historical reference to the city's glorious past".

The Unesco report said the views of the Three Graces from Kings Dock would disappear amid the supertowers.

Read more, here.

Proposed alteration of Selous Game Reserve boundaries to pave way for a tricky uranium mining project in Namtumbo district, Ruvuma region faces uncertainty as no international clearance could be granted until June this year at the earliest.

The clearance on the boundaries change is supposed to be acquired from the World Heritage Centre, a body under the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Selous is listed on Unesco’s world heritage sites.

Ezekiel Maige, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, told The Guardian on Sunday this week that the government would be waiting for a decision from WHC after its June meeting, in which case no conclusion can be made before mid-year.

“World heritage centre meets once a year and during the 2011 meeting we submitted the proposals which the body has to look into before reaching a decision,” noted the minister.
He stated: “Through its advisory body the committee sent its team last October which looked into various matters including the Environment Impact Assessment. They visited the site and met the national Atomic Energy Commission, therefore the findings and report by this team would be key in reaching decisions.”

To read more, click here.