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| Wednesday, 30 June 2004 |
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UNESCO to offer training needed for heritage protection SUZHOU, Tuesday (Xinhua,AFP) The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will offer more training to developing nations to enhance their capacity in heritage protection, said UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. In a sideline interview with Xinhua at the 28th Session to the World Heritage Committee, Matsuura said that many developing countries looked forward to international assistance, especially those whose heritage sites had been damaged by natural disasters or in war chaos. The job of UNESCO was to provide them education, training and technical assistance with a purpose to improve their capability of heritage protection, especially those already in danger, he said. Matsuura said capacity building was an important component of the UNESCO's global strategy, which was aimed to ensure a representative, balanced and credible world heritage list and to help state parties better their understanding toward global heritage sites through communications. "Many of the developing countries are thirsty for international assistance", Matsuura said, "We're helping them establish conservation plans, make proposals and even publicity brochures. We also provide them financial support and technical guidance," he said. "However, it's not enough for them to be only included in the list. They need to acquire the capacity of managing their own properties independently and give their bits to the world's heritage protection," he said.. Meanwhile a top UN cultural official said development posed the biggest threat to the world's cultural and natural heritage, with its destructive powers beating out those of war and natural disaster. "What is most important at the moment is the very, very big urban development ... which in many cases is made without proper respect for historical sites," Mounir Bouchnaki, assistant director general of UNESCO, told AFP during its annual meeting on world heritage. "When you are building a road and new construction and you're not carrying out a proper investigation of the environment, you will destroy what you cannot rebuild," Bouchnaki said. Development threats topped the agenda at the 28th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's World Heritage Committee, which opened in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou Monday. "The position of the UNESCO is following: There shouldn't be a policy of development which ignores heritage," Bouchnaki said. He urged countries to set up proper systems to manage heritage sites and pass protective legislation to safeguard their cultural or natural treasures. |
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