The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has become one of the most successful UN instruments for promoting cultural diplomacy and dialogue on conservation of cultural and natural heritage. World Heritage Conservation provides an overview of the Convention through an interdisciplinary approach to conservation. It shows that based on the notion of outstanding universal value and international co-operation for the protection of heritage, the Convention provides a platform for sustainable development through the conservation and management of heritage of significance to humanity. With increasing globalisation of heritage, World Heritage Conservation is reviewed as an emerging interdisciplinary field of study creating new opportunities for inclusive heritage debate both locally and globally, requiring common tools and understanding. With nearly a thousand properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, from biologically diverse sites such as the Central Amazon Conservation Complex to the urban landscape of the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, World Heritage Conservation will help students and professionals in the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of World Heritage. Targeted at a diversity of disciplines, the book critically describes the strategies for implementing the Convention and the processes of heritage governance for environmental sustainability.
1. Introduction to World Heritage Conservation
2. World Heritage and Sustainable Development
3. Defining World Heritage
4. Governing World Heritage
5. Implementing the World Heritage Convention
6. Using World Heritage
7. Managing World Heritage
8. Creating Conservation Capacities
9. Endangered Heritage
10. Conclusion: a Credible Process?
Claire Cave and Elene Negussie are both Lecturers, World Heritage Management Programme and World Heritage Conservation Distance Learning Programme, in the School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Ireland.