On May 30th, the "HeritAP Chat: 2024 World Heritage Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (Environment and Resilience)" was successfully held online. The event was organized by the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO, Shanghai (WHITRAP Shanghai). A panel of six experts was invited to participate, including Gamini Wijesuriya (WHITRAP Shanghai special advisor), Hatthaya Siriphatthanakun (SEAMEO SPAFA senior specialist), Li Hong (WHITRAP Shanghai project director) , Wang Xinyuan (HIST deputy director), Rohit Jigyasu (ICCROM project manager), and Nobuko Inaba (Emerit Professor, World Heritage Studies, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba).

Representatives from 11 heritage sites in five countries (Pakistan, Thailand, Iran, India, and China) presented their respective cases. A total of 28 HeritAP members attended the Zoom meeting, and 1885 people watched the live broadcast. The event is part of WHITRAP Shanghai's six-year project "World Heritage Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (2023-2028)," which aims to further understand the implementation of heritage protection projects and promote innovative practices of world heritage contributing to sustainable development goals to a broader audience.

online group photo

The event comprised two segments: case presentations and panel Q&A sessions. Representatives from the 11 heritage sites, which had passed the preliminary review for the 2024 Call for Good Practices under the theme "Environment and Resilience", shared their cases in three groups. Each Q&A session was hosted by Gamini Wijesuriya and Hatthaya Siriphatthanakun, Wang Xinyuan and Li Hong, and Rohit Jigyasu and Nobuko Inaba, respectively. The selected good practices will be invited to participate in the HeritAP annual meeting, where their achievements will be further shared.

Li Hong, Project Director of WHITRAP Shanghai, introduces HeritAP Chat on World Heritage Contributions to Sustainable Development Goals in 2024

Luo Xuan, Project Manager of Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd., introduces the Practice of Protecting Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er 

Witiya Pittungnapoo, Director of Climate Change Adaptation for Cultural Heritage Preservation at the Faculty of Architecture, Art and Design, Naresuan University, Thailand, introduces Designing with Water towards Sustainable Development: SUKHOTHAI

Zhang Yijin, West Lake World Cultural Heritage Monitoring and Management Center in Hangzhou, introduces Historical Inheritance and Sustainable Development -- Exploring the Conservation and Management Mode of West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou

Gurmeet S Rai, Director of CRCI India Pvt Ltd, introduces "Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for Red fort, Delhi,India" 

Han Feng, Professor of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji 

University, introduces "UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism as a Development Engine for People in Nature: the Wulingyuan case from China"

Gu Jianhui, Associate Professor of Shandong University, introduces "The First Batch of National Important Sites of the Great Wall, Dingtouya West Section of the Qi Great Wall in Changqing District"

Sainz Harrison, Foreign Affairs Manager of Jin Ze Art Centre, introduces" The Pactice of Jin Ze Art Center”

Yang Pingheng, Professor of Southwest University, introduces "Wulong Karst World Natural Heritage Conservation and Management System" 

Aisha Khan, Deputy Director- Craft, Culture, Curation & International Collaborations of Walled City of Lahore Authority, introduces "Walled City of Lahore Authority"

Seyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei, PhD Student of Conservation of historic buildings and fabrics, Art University of Isfahan, Iran, introduces "Recognition and Revitalization of 'Chineh' Walls of Historic Gardens"

Sun Bei, Research staff of Longmen Grottoes Academy, introduces "The China Rural Development Foundation and Bilibili donated to the protection and restoration project of Longmen Grottoes"