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WHITRAP Hosting "Workshop on Preliminary Assessment for National Focal Points of the Asia Region" in Chengdu
From:UNESCO Author:Li Hong  PublishDate:2024-10-31  Hits:8

From October 21 to 22, the “Workshop on Preliminary Assessment for National Focal Points of the Asia Region" was held in Chengdu, organized by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the Chinese National Committee for ICOMOS (ICOMOS China), hosted by the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration and the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (WHITRAP). 18 representatives from 13 Asian countries, including China, Brunei, Cambodia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, participated in the training.

 

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In 2021, the World Heritage Committee approved a new principle of a two-phase nomination process to improve the quality of nominations and strengthen the dialogue between State Parties and the Advisory Bodies (Decision 44 COM 14). At the outset, the nomination process will start with the Preliminary Assessment (PA), “a mandatory desk-based process for all sites that may be nominated to the World Heritage List and is undertaken following a request by the relevant State(s) Party (ies) – Operational Guidelines para. 122”. This workshop is the first one held in Asia region since the introduction of PA. The workshop aims to enhance understanding of the background, purpose, content, requirements, and process of the preliminary assessment.

The workshop employed various formats, including thematic lectures, group discussions, and open Q&A sessions, focusing on the principles and key contents of the World Heritage Convention, the structure and key points of the preliminary assessment mechanism for World Heritage nominations, the heritage value and nomination strategies, core concepts such as heritage components, attributes, and elements, as well as authenticity and integrity. Lectures were conducted by Gwenaëlle Bourdin, director of World Heritage Evaluation Unit of ICOMOS; Luisa De Marco, ICOMOS World Heritage advisor; Zheng Jun, researcher of China Academy of Cultural Heritage; and Carolina Castellanos, special advisor of WHITRAP Shanghai. Dr. Yan Haiming, director of the ICOMOS China Secretariat, and Li Hong, project director of WHITRAP Shanghai, organized and facilitated group discussions.

Participants actively shared experiences and practices related to the nomination and protection of world cultural heritage, further exploring opportunities to strengthen cooperation in research, nomination, and heritage protection. This contributes to enhancing the capabilities of heritage nomination and protection by pooling Asian wisdom and leading the entire Asian region's World Heritage nomination and protection work to new heights. During the training course, experts and representatives from various countries also conducted field study on cultural heritage sites in Sichuan Province and Chengdu.
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