On 21st and 22nd October, the ‘World Heritage Pre-assessment Training Course for the Asian Region’ was held in Chengdu, hosted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the Chinese Association for the Protection of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS China), and organised by the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the UNESCO World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (WHITRAP). Eighteen representatives from China and 13 other Asian countries, including Brunei, Cambodia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, participated in the training.

In 2021, the 44th World Heritage Committee revised the Operational Guidelines and decided to add a pre-evaluation procedure to World Heritage nominations. The introduction of this mechanism is intended to strengthen communication between States Parties to the World Heritage Convention and the Advisory Bodies, improve the quality of World Heritage nomination files and enhance the management of World Heritage conservation. This training course is the first workshop to be held in the Asian region since the introduction of the World Heritage pre-evaluation mechanism. The training course aims to enhance understanding of the background, purpose, content, requirements and process of the pre-evaluation work.

The training course adopted a variety of formats, including special lectures, group discussions and open Q&A sessions, and focused on the principles and key content of the World Heritage Convention, the structure and focus of the World Heritage nomination pre-assessment mechanism, the construction of heritage value and nomination strategies, core concepts such as the composition of heritage, value characteristics and elements, authenticity and integrity, etc. Lectures and discussions were conducted. Gw enaëlle Bourdin, ICOMOS World Heritage Consulting Expert Luisa De Marco, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage Zheng Jun, and WHITRAP Special Advisor Carolina Castellanos gave lectures. ICOMOS China Secretariat Director Dr. Yan Haiming and WHITRAP Shanghai Project Director Li Hong organised and assisted the participants in conducting group discussions.

The participants learned from each other, exchanged experiences and practices in the nomination and protection of world cultural heritage, and further explored the possibility of strengthening cooperation in the research, nomination and protection of world cultural heritage. They gathered Asian wisdom to improve the capacity for the nomination and protection of world cultural heritage, and contributed to leading and driving the nomination and protection of world heritage in the whole of Asia to a new level. During the training course, experts and representatives from various countries also conducted research on the cultural heritage sites in Sichuan Province and Chengdu City.