Imbalance of World Heritage List: Did the UNESCO Strategy Work?

Abstract

The official intention of the UNESCO World Heritage List is to protect the global heritage.However, the imbalance of the distribution of Sites according to countries and continents is striking. Consequently, the World Heritage Committee launched the Global Strategy for a Balanced, Representative and Credible World Heritage List in 1994. To date, there have not been any empirical analyses conducted to study the impact of this strategy. This paper shows that the imbalance did not decrease and perhaps increased over time, thus reflecting the inability of the Global Strategy to achieve a more balanced distribution of Sites. JEL Classification: Z11, D6, F5, H87Keywords: UNESCO, international organizations, international political economy, global public goods, world heritage  For helpful suggestions, we are indebted to

The Natural Monument “Markovi Kuli” in the List of Unesco-Yes or No

“…It has been demonstrated that once sites are placed on the list, they experience a significant increase in tourists. While this is welcome for firms offering tourist services, hotels and restaurants in particular, there is some concern that too many tourists may negatively affect the heritage sites [7]. The World Heritage Centre participates in the UNEP World Tourism Organization-UNESCO Tour Operators' and the World Heritage Alliance Initiative, which has attracted an increasing number of environmentally sensitive companies [8].…”

Paradigm Shifts in Global Heritage Discourse

“…Moreover, the tenure of a country being a signatory to the Convention, holding a seat in the World Heritage Committee, and having a permanent or a rotating membership on the UN Security Council are factors strongly correlated to the number of sites inscribed in the List. However, being a rotating member of the Security Council, which should have no relationship to the value of a country's heritage, seems to have a higher impact on having new sites inscribed during that tenure than being a permanent member (Steiner and Frey, 2012). These economic and political factors are primarily related to the colonial and neocolonial global order, and illustrate the invisible and continuing consequences of the colonial legacy.…”

“…To ensure an equitable geo-cultural representation on the Committee, a number of resolutions have been adopted: to reserve a certain number of seats for State Parties who do not have sites inscribed on the World Heritage List; to invite States to voluntarily reduce their terms of office from six to four years and not seek consecutive terms of office (UNESCO, 2013); and to financially support the heritage experts and representatives from the developing countries on the Committee to increase their participation in the Committee activities (Labadi 2005). However, Steiner and Frey (2012) found that, after the implementation of the Global Strategy, the longer tenured countries obtained relatively more sites than did countries with shorter tenure in the Convention. State Parties with their heritage already wellrepresented are now encouraged to voluntarily suspend, or space over time the submittal of new nominations, or to link their nominations with a nomination presented by a State Party whose heritage is currently underrepresented (UNESCO, 2013).…”

The Riddles of Historic Urban Quarters Inscription on the Unesco World Heritage List

“…Therefore, the unbalanced distribution of the World Heritage List in terms of cultural sites can also be explained based on the history of the convention and the different times that each country has joined, as well as in terms of the views of UNESCO experts and their idea of Western culture in defining historical buildings, churches and archaeological sites of great global significance (Steiner & Frey, 2011). It is argued that each region has its own historical and philosophical perspectives towards authenticity, spirituality and historical significance, and that cultural-specific ways of reading or valuing cultural heritage should be recognized (Winter, 2014).…”