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UNesCO today 3 | 2011 germany’s Commitment to UNesCO’s World Heritage
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Jasmund National Park is one of the Beech woods that Germany nominated for the
World Heritage List
to assist the German World Heritage sites,
the German Commission for UNESCO
has published some guidelines, Management
Plans for World Heritage sites.
In What Sense Has the
World Heritage Convention
Been Successful?
The World Heritage Convention is the
most visible and successful UNESCO
programme. Its success is highlighted by
the number of countries to have ratified
the Convention: 187 out of the 193
UNESCO member states have signed it.
The World Heritage List currently comprises
911 sites in 151 countries. Thanks
to this list, an instrument has been created
to fill a gap that existed in all other
international resolutions, recommendations
and charters to conserve both built
and natural Heritage. The World Heritage
List has significantly contributed towards
the effect of the Convention on the public
and to its worldwide success. Protection,
preservation and maintenance are not demanded
by the World Heritage Convention
in a restrictive manner; instead, these
actions are recommended and highlighted.
The World Heritage site title has become
an important instrument of cultural
identification and is now a brand that acts
as a tourist magnet.
Soon, another milestone will have been
reached: in 2012, the Convention will be
40 years old, which coincides with the
predicted inscription of the 1,000th
World Heritage site. The Federal Republic
of Germany might be able to celebrate
its 40th World Heritage site inscription.
On the German Tentative List, there are
several sites that have been put forward
in the context of cross-border, serial
nominations (clusters) for the World Heritage
site List, such as the Houses at the
Weissenhof-Siedlung by Le Corbusier in
Stuttgart, the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings
around Lake Constance in Bavaria and
Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Ancient
Beech Forests in Hesse, Thuringia,
Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania. Serial nominations are a
form of international cooperation, which
demonstrate the future viability of the
World Heritage Convention.
They also make the idea behind the
World Heritage Convention clear: it links
both culture and nature conservation,
based on the principle that all cultures are
equal and pinpoints extraordinary sites of
the Earth as the Heritage of Mankind and
that of future generations, independently
of state borders. The World Heritage
Convention of 1972 has become a forum
in which the global community defends
its common Cultural and Natural Heritage
and has proven to be a successful
platform for this activity.
The World Heritage List’s
Universal Claims
The prestige of the World Heritage List
is not only the result of its credibility
and expertise in the selection of the sites.
It is based on the universal claim to represent
all cultures in a balanced fashion
and thus create a rich kaleidoscope from
all the cultures in the world. Due to the
fact that all sites benefit from the prestige
of the World Heritage List, whether
they have already been inscribed on the
List or strive to be, it is important to
make sure that these locations do not
become victims of their own success.
That is why Germany will contribute
towards ensuring that the global strategy
for a sustainable perpetuation of the
World Heritage List is successful and
that a balance between national interests
and international perspectives is reached.
The guiding principles during membership
in the Committee are: the strict application
of the concept of extraordinary
universal value and attention to the
equality and representation of all cultures.
Important aims include the sustainable
development of the World Heritage
sites, paying particular attention to
the impact of climate change, raising
awareness and capacity-building, especially
for younger generations.
Germany actively supports the Global
Strategy for a Representative, Balanced
and Credible World Heritage List. The
fast growth of the World Heritage List in
the past twenty years led to a worrying
imbalance in terms of the geographical
locations and type of sites. Thus, both
on a national and international level,
projects have been launched and
measures taken, following the five Cs