RAFFY'S WORLD OF SCIENCE (Random Notes, Random Thoughts of Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña): More on World Heritage Sites

Sunday, August 12, 2007

More on World Heritage Sites

(Photo Caption: The Logo of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list)

In a previous blog entry (See http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2007/08/world-heritage-sites.html) I mentioned that the Philippines has five sites in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

According the UNESCO website ( See http://whc.unesco.org/en/list) the World Heritage List includes 851 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties in 141 States Parties. As of October 2006, 184 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention.

To be included in the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage. The criteria are regularly revised by the Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.

Selection criteria: (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/ )

"
1. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

2. to 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;

3. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

4. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

5. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

6. to 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 preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

7. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

8. to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

9. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

10. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations. "

The complete list of World Heritage Sites is found in this website:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

Looking at the list, I realized that out of the out of the 851 sites listed, I have already visited 41 sites [still a long way to go, but it is already something :) ]. Below is a list of the sites that I have been to/visited (Note: The numbers in parenthesis is the year of inscription of the site as a World Heritage site and NOT the year that I have visited it):