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the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention - Conference on Living with World Heritage in Africa
From:WHITRAP Shanghai Author:Ping KONG  PublishDate:2012-09-27  Hits:4129
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, South Africa Government, African World Heritage Fund and UNESCO World Heritage Center organize the international conference on “ Living with World Heritage in Africa” in Gauteng, South Africa, from 26 to 29 September 2012. WHITRAP is invited and Dr. Ping Kong represents the Center to participate this conference to understand the state of conservation and challenges in Africa region, and to explore cross-regional cooperation.
 
The conference began with Ministers’ Statements to present the governmental guidance and political directions in heritage conservation and development. Minister and governmental representatives from Gabon, Lesotho, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Botswana, South Sudan, South Africa made important speeches to review the challenges and commitments in development and conservation, occurred in the Africa Union. Poverty alleviation, mining, mineral resource excavation, infrastructure development, marginalizing of local communities are common challenges in the region, which require capacity building and regional cooperation. Further discussion will be carried out in the following two days.
 
Official Opening was addressed by the Deputy Director-General of UNESCO and Minister of Culture of South Africa. Sharing experience and developing common perspectives to strengthen the balance of conservation and development was called upon. In addtion, to support the people of Mali in protecting the mausoleums and shrines in the historic Malian city of Timbuktu, the Minister’s Resolution to support Mali is drafted and agreed upon by the ministers related to World Heritage in Africa Union.


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