site.bta47th Session UNESCO World Heritage Committee Chair Nenov: Society Must Work Harder to Protect UNESCO Sites
The whole of society must work harder to protect and develop UNESCO sites, Prof. Nikolay Nenov, Director of the Regional History Museum in Ruse and Chairman of the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, told BTA's Martin Penev. The 47th session will take place in Paris from July 6 to 16.
Prof. Nenov said that Bulgaria has 10 sites included in the World Heritage List: three of them are related to natural heritage and the remaining seven, to cultural heritage. "The last site is one of our accession to the Ancient Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Europe as a whole. We are talking about the beech forests in the reserves of the Central Balkan National Park," he specified.
According to him, the protection and development of UNESCO sites is a process in which many countries are involved. "You have to look at all the stakeholders of a site being a UNESCO site. The synergy to be achieved between different authorities - national, regional, local - is very important. It is equally important to listen to people's views, because in the last 10 years, UNESCO's objectives have included working with communities. And the voice of communities must always be heard. This means that we need more communication with the different communities, either interest groups or local communities. Separately, there are the stakeholders - all those who will benefit, in this case I am referring to tourism. So we see many different groups of people. Scientists are no less important in this process than the media. They need to know how they can communicate this whole process for the benefit of society. In fact, we should all be trying to do more for World Heritage sites," said Prof. Nenov.
He stressed that the upcoming session is one of UNESCO's key annual instruments. "It cannot not be held. It would block the work of this world organization altogether. The World Heritage Committee consists of 196 member states. In total, the UNESCO sites, as we call them, part of the world cultural heritage, are 1,223, located in 168 countries," he explained.
The Committee is governed by the Secretariat of UNESCO World Heritage Centre as well as three advisory bodies - ICCROM, ICOMOS, and IUCN. "These are bodies that are NGO-led. They are made up of professionals. Some of them are experts on monuments and sites, others are responsible for the environment and ecology, and others are for conservation and restoration," Prof. Nenov explained. These organizations produce reports on all sites, regardless of their stage. "Whether you want to include a site on the preliminary list, or you have already prepared a nomination dossier - that is, to enter a session, as there will now be new sites in this session, and have them recognized as UNESCO sites. If the State wants to make any changes in the area, in the buffer zone next to the site - for example, a highway or some road is going to go through, that is coordinated accordingly with these authorities and a decision is made. Another issue is, if there are any problems that would put this site at risk, for example in case of war. This is how the World Heritage Committee works," said Prof.Nenov.
Of the 196 member states, 21 have the right to vote, including Bulgaria.
"What is going to happen at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in July will already be prepared, they will know every day what topic they are going to deal with - whether with the preliminary list, whether with sites that are endangered, how they are going to be dealt with, to what extent they are endangered, whether the member state has its objections or not. And all these details will show how this whole procedure will move in time, depending on the votes of those who are eligible. Overall, this is very boring, as you hear. Generally speaking, there will be no presentations of individual UNESCO sites. It is expected, as is the rule, that the experts who are in the room know each and every dossier, know each and every one of the sites that are being discussed with its details, with the objections, if any, with the opinions of the various advisory institutions. And thus, based on their informed opinions, they make decisions," he explained.
The upcoming session will not consider sites from Bulgaria, but the country will submit two key applications.
"Of course, there are two very important sites for Bulgaria. And there will certainly be a roundtable about them. There will be a talk about the Danube Roman Limes, and probably there will be an exhibition. The Roman Limes adds us to the heart of Europe, to this European culture which is the basis of our modern identity. And with this application for the Danube Roman Limes, Bulgaria will be together with three other countries - Croatia, Serbia and Romania," said Prof.Nenov.
The other important nomination is the Bishop's Basilica and Late Antique Mosaics of Philippopolis, Roman Province of Thrace, in Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria), which is still being worked on and is not fully ready for consideration.
Bulgaria will preside over the 47th Session, actively participating in its organisation, including through funding and close cooperation with the Secretariat.
/DS/
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