The Next 50: Ways Forward for South Asia
November 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Over the past 50 years, the notion of culture, in particular of cultural heritage, has shifted from monument-centered towards people-centered and holistic approach. The understanding of cultural heritage has expanded to encompass a wider spectrum, including cultural landscape, historic towns, industrial heritage as well as heritage routes. The Global Strategy, adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 1994, was established to make the World Heritage List more representative, credible and balanced and remains one of the most important strategies for World Heritage till date.
To mark this meaningful 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO New Delhi Multisectoral Regional Office is organizing, jointly with the State Government of Madhya Pradesh of India, a Sub-Regional Conference on World Heritage “The Next 50: Ways Forward for South Asia World Heritage” on 17-18 April in Bhopal, Madya Pradesh, India.
The Conference will look at the achievements over the past 50 years at a national, regional and international levels and brainstorm about ways forward for World Heritage in the next 50 years to come, focusing, in particular, on themes such as World Heritage and Sustainable Development for Local Community, World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism, Historic Urban Landscape, and World Heritage and Climate Change.
Approximately one hundred government officials, members of the civil society, universities and academics, as well as individual experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka will take part in the Conference.
