World Heritage Sites: nomination, inscription and management

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World Heritage Sites nomination, inscription and
management
Stephen Bond Partner, TFT Cultural Heritage
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World Heritage Sites (WHS)

• Only nations (State Parties) that have
  ratified the World Heritage Convention can submit
  nomination proposals to be considered for
  inclusion on the World Heritage List that is
  maintained by the World Heritage Centre at UNESCO
• In order to be inscribed as a World Heritage
  Site, the State Party must demonstrate that the
  nominated property is of outstanding universal
  value
• The World Heritage List includes 851
  properties of which
• 660 are cultural heritage sites
• 166 are natural heritage sites
• 25 are mixed
• These WHS are spread across 141 of the 184
  State Parties that have ratified the World
  Heritage Convention

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World Heritage Sites in the UK

• There are currently 27 WHS in the UK
• The sites inscribed in the past 10 years have
  been
• Maritime Greenwich (1997)
• Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999)
• Historic Town of St George and Related
  Fortifications, Bermuda (2000)
• Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000)
• Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001)
• Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
• New Lanark (2001)
• Saltaire (2001)
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)
• Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City (2004)
• Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
  (2006)

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Cultural Heritage Sites

• The World Heritage Convention defines cultural
  heritage properties as
• Monuments
• Groups of buildings
• Sites, including cultural landscapes

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Monuments as Cultural Heritage
Architectural works, works of monumental
sculpture and painting, elements or structures of
an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave
dwellings and combinations of features, which are
of outstanding universal value from the point of
view of history, art or science
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Groups of Buildings as Cultural Heritage
Groups of separate or connected buildings which,
because of their architecture, their homogeneity
or their place in the landscape, are of
outstanding universal value from the point of
view of history, art or science
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Sites as Cultural Heritage
Works of man or the combined works of nature and
of man, and areas including archaeological sites
which are of outstanding universal value from the
historical, aesthetic, ethnological or
anthropological points of view
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Cultural Landscape Sites as Cultural Heritage

• Cultural Landscapes represent the combined
  works of nature and of man. They are
  illustrative of the evolution of human society
  and settlement over time, under the influence of
  the physical constraints and/or opportunities
  presented by their natural environment and of
  successive social, economic and cultural forces,
  both external and internal. Cultural landscapes
  include diverse examples of the interaction
  between humans and the natural environment and
  fall into three main categories
• the clearly defined landscape designed and
  created intentionally by man
• the organically evolved landscape and
• the associative cultural landscape

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Criteria for Inscription (Outstanding Universal
Value)
Outstanding universal value is defined within
UNESCOs Operational Guidelines for the
Implementation of the World Heritage Convention
(2005) as Cultural and/or natural significance
which is so exceptional as to transcend national
boundaries and to be of common importance for
present and future generations of all humanity.
As such, the permanent protection of this
heritage is of the highest importance to the
international community as a whole
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Criteria for Inscription (Outstanding Universal
Value)

• In order to be inscribed as a World Heritage
  Site, a cultural heritage property must
• Meet one or more of the following criteria,
  and
• The test of authenticity, and
• Be adequately protected

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• Nominated cultural heritage properties must
• Represent a masterpiece of human creative
  genius or
• Exhibit an important interchange of human
  values, over a span of time or within a cultural
  area of the world, on developments in
  architecture or technology, monumental arts,
  town-planning or landscape design or
• Bear a unique or at least exceptional
  testimony to a cultural tradition or to a
  civilization which is living or which has
  disappeared or
• Be an outstanding example of a type of
  building or architectural or technological
  ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a)
  significant stage(s) in human history or
• Be an outstanding example of a traditional
  human settlement or land-use which is
  representative of a culture (or cultures),
  especially when it has become vulnerable under
  the impact of irreversible change or
• Be directly or tangibly associated with events
  or living traditions, with ideas, or with
  beliefs, with artistic and literary works of
  outstanding universal significance (the Committee
  considers that this criterion should justify
  inclusion in the List only in exceptional
  circumstances and in conjunction with other
  criteria cultural or natural)

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The Process of Nomination
Before being nominated for consideration as a
World Heritage Site, cultural, natural and mixed
heritage properties first have to be on a
Tentative List. This is a list of sites that
have been identified by the State Party as having
outstanding universal value. The UK produced a
second Tentative List of 25 sites in 1999. So
far, 9 of these have gone on to be inscribed
successfully as WHS.
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The Process of Nomination
Currently, the member parties to the World
Heritage Convention are only allowed one
nomination each year. The UKs current
nomination, which will be considered by the next
World Heritage Committee meeting in June 2008, is
The Antonine Wall, as part of the transnational
site Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
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The 1999 Tentative List

• In 1999, the Department of Culture Media and
  Sport (DCMS) identified a series of themes for
  inclusion on the Tentative List as natural or
  cultural heritage of outstanding universal value.
  Themes for cultural properties at that time
  were
• Cultural landscapes
• The origins of Christianity
• Industrialisation
• Britains global influence
• Planned landscapes and gardens
• Other sites

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The Tentative List and Nomination
New entries are generally not added onto the
Tentative List until it is reviewed in its
entirety. Currently, the following remain on the
Tentative List from 1999, but have yet to be
nominated

• The Wash and North Norfolk Coast
• The Cairngorm Mountains
• The Flow Country
• The Forth Rail Bridge
• Pont-Cysyllte Aqueduct
• Mount Stewart Gardens
• Fountains Cavern, Anguilla
• The Fortress of Gibraltar

• Chatham Naval Dockyard
• Darwins Home and Workplace
• Lake District
• Manchester, Trafford and Salford
• Monkwearmouth/Jarrow
• The New Forest
• Great Western Railway
• Shakespeares Stratford

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Review of the Tentative List
DCMS is currently leading a policy review to
ensure that outstanding heritage sites in the UK,
its Dependencies and Territories are
appropriately identified, protected and promoted.
As part of this review it has commissioned
Pricewaterhouse Coopersto undertake a
comprehensive study into the costs and benefits
associated with World Heritage Site status in the
UKOnce this initial analysis is complete we plan
to engage the public more widely in a
consultation in the autumn on our future approach
to World Heritage. Should we decide following
this consultation to draw up a new Tentative
List, we would expect to invite applications from
potential sites early in 2008 DCMS Press Release
30th July 2007
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The Process of Nomination

• The State Party (in the UK, DCMS) selects
  sites from its Tentative List to bring forward
  for nomination and prepares a Nomination File.
  This must contain all necessary documentation to
  demonstrate the outstanding universal value of
  the property and the criteria for its nomination,
  its authenticity, and the adequacy of its
  management regime. A robust management plan for
  the site is an essential prerequisite.
• It can take several years to develop the
  Nomination File successfully.
• DCMS and its advisor, English Heritage, are
  now determined that emphasis should be given to
  the qualitative issues of management. As part
  of the review of the Tentative List, new policy
  is likely to be developed to ensure that current
  and proposed WHS should take their obligations
  seriously.

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The Process of Nomination

• Each State Party can nominate one new property
  to be considered for inclusion on the World
  Heritage List every year
• The Nomination File is submitted to the WHC
  for review and to check that it is complete
• Once the nomination file has been accepted,
  the WHC sends it to the appropriate Advisory
  Bodies for evaluation. The principal Advisory
  Bodies to UNESCO for this purpose are the
  International Council on Monuments and Sites
  (ICOMOS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and
  the International Centre for the Study of the
  Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
  (ICCROM)
• The period of evaluation takes approximately
  18 months before a final decision is made by the
  World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting

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The Legislative Context for WHS in the UK

• In some countries, World Heritage Sites are
  provided with additional statutory protection
  under national planning/development legislation.
  Currently, that is not the case in the United
  Kingdom.
• However, the outstanding international
  importance of the site does constitute a key
  material consideration to be taken into account
  by local planning authorities in determining
  planning and listed building applications.
• Local authorities are also required to
  formulate specific planning policies for
  protecting World Heritage Sites.

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Buffer Zones to WHS

• UNESCOs 2005 Operational Guidelines for the
  Implementation of the World Heritage Convention
  envisage that Nomination Files may identify a
  buffer zone around the nominated property to
  provide protection against deleterious change
• The Guidelines state that a buffer zone is an
  area surrounding the nominated property which has
  complementary legal and/or customary restrictions
  placed on its use and development to give an
  added layer of protection to the property, and
• should include the immediate setting of the
  nominated property, important views and other
  areas or attributes that are functionally
  important as a support to the property and its
  protection

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Buffer Zones to WHS

• UNESCOs 2005 Operational Guidelines for the
  Implementation of the World Heritage Convention
  also declare that any modifications to the
  buffer zone subsequent to inscription of a
  property on the World Heritage List should be
  approved by the World Heritage Committee
• It has recently been pointed out that Now,
  countries are under a fairly onerous obligation
  to obtain international approval for activities
  in the buffer zones of their World Heritage
  Sites. Furthermore, recent decisions by the
  World Heritage Committee suggest that this
  obligation extends beyond the formal boundaries
  of buffer zones to include views and vistas.
• The implication is that, potentially,
  inscription as a World Heritage Site does,
  through the wording of the Operational
  Guidelines, confer certain additional
  international statutory protection, irrespective
  of the original intent of the relevant national
  Government through application of its legislative
  planning and development controls.

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Summary

• DCMS may well decide to draw up a new
  Tentative List in the near future, perhaps
  inviting applications from potential sites early
  in 2008
• The themes, if any, to be applied in making
  selections for inclusion on a new Tentative List
  are not known at present
• New entries will need to demonstrate that they
  are truly of outstanding universal value in
  other words, so exceptional as to transcend
  national boundaries and to be of common
  importance for present and future generations of
  all humanity
• In addition, applicants will need to give
  emphasisto qualitative issues of management
  and demonstrate that they take their
  management obligations seriously.

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• To be included on any new DCMS List, cultural
  heritage sites must
• Represent a masterpiece of human creative
  genius or
• Exhibit an important interchange of human
  values, over a span of time or within a cultural
  area of the world, on developments in
  architecture or technology, monumental arts,
  town-planning or landscape design or
• Bear a unique or at least exceptional
  testimony to a cultural tradition or to a
  civilization which is living or which has
  disappeared or
• Be an outstanding example of a type of
  building or architectural or technological
  ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a)
  significant stage(s) in human history or
• Be an outstanding example of a traditional
  human settlement or land-use which is
  representative of a culture (or cultures),
  especially when it has become vulnerable under
  the impact of irreversible change or
• Be directly or tangibly associated with events
  or living traditions, with ideas, or with
  beliefs, with artistic and literary works of
  outstanding universal significance (remembering
  that the WHC considers that this criterion should
  justify inscription as a WHS only in exceptional
  circumstances and in conjunction with other
  cultural or natural criteria)