Last month marked the 30th anniversary of UNESCO's convention to protect the world's cultural and natural heritage. But amid the celebrations the threats seem greater than ever, writes David Tresilian from Paris The International Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, managed by the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris, was 30 years old in November. Adopted by the Organisation in November 1972 following international campaigns to save the Ramessid monuments near Aswan in Upper Egypt from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, and the city of Venice, Italy, from slipping further into its surrounding lagoon, the convention draws international attention to threats facing the world cultural heritage, promoting the idea that such heritage, whatever its local origin, is of value to humanity as a whole and that the international community has a duty to safeguard it for future generations to learn from and enjoy. Today, there are 173 states party to the World Heritage Convention, 730 sites in 125 countries having been designated as expressions of the world cultural and natural heritage and registered as such on the UNESCO World Heritage List. However, 30 years after the convention's adoption, and despite many notable successes such as at Aswan and in Venice, threats to the world's heritage sites are increasing, notably from uncontrolled urbanisation, land speculation and unchecked tourist development, as well as looting, war and deliberate destruction. Such threats are severely testing the capacity of UNESCO and of some national governments to safeguard these sites. To celebrate the convention's 30th anniversary, UNESCO this month organised a "virtual congress" bringing together themed events across the globe, including a seminar held in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria and an international conference in Venice. The congress, however, also held under the umbrella of the 2002 United Nations International Year for Cultural Heritage, was designed to draw attention to these continuing threats. For Minja Yang, deputy director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, interviewed recently in the French newspaper Le Monde, the 30th anniversary events were as much about registering the threats to world heritage as they were about celebrating the convention's achievements. "Pollution, looting, war, unchecked tourism, uncontrolled urban development and natural catastrophes", had in many cases significantly increased threats to sites since their inscription on the UNESCO list, Ms Yang noted. It was therefore up to the international community, together with international public opinion, to react to these increasing threats, in this way reinforcing the UNESCO Centre's and national governments' sometimes stretched resources. In the Arab World, 54 sites in 12 countries currently figure on the UNESCO list. These include six sites in Egypt, among them the Pyramids area at Giza near Cairo, Islamic Cairo, the Nubian Monuments at Abu-Simbel and Philae, and, most recently, listed earlier this year, St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai. According to the international committee that makes recommendations for the registration of sites on the list, this monastery, "one of the very early outstanding examples in Eastern tradition of a Christian monastic settlement located in a remote area", demonstrating "an intimate relationship between natural grandeur and spiritual commitment", had been "used for its initial function without interruption since the 6th century". "The St Catherine's area, centred on the holy mountain of Mount Sinai" -- Mount Horeb in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Moses received the Tablets of the Law, and known to Muslims as Gabal Musa" -- is "sacred to three world religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism", the committee noted. Other World Heritage Sites in other Arab countries include Petra in Jordan, Baalbek, Byblos and Tyre in Lebanon, Leptis Magna, Cyrene and the Old City of Ghadamès in Libya and eight sites in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria respectively, these together testifying to the region's Phoenician, Roman, Christian and Islamic heritage. However, in the Arab countries and in Egypt many such sites are at risk from threats such as urbanisation, touristic development and pollution. Islamic Cairo, registered as a World Heritage Site in 1979 following years of concern at the deteriorating state of conservation of many of this mediaeval city's mosques, madrasas (Islamic schools), hammams and fountains, was the subject of an international symposium, organised by UNESCO and held in Cairo earlier this year, which highlighted many of the issues involved. One such issue is the appropriateness, or otherwise, of conservation work carried out on the historic buildings, particularly when the aim can seem to be attracting tourists to a spruced- up "outdoor museum" rather than the revitalisation of such sites in association with the local communities that live in them, together with respect for authentic conservation techniques and materials. Others are the threats posed by natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, on the heritage buildings, and the unplanned consequences of urban development, such as a rise in the level of the water table. As Fayza Hassan wrote ironically of certain "restoration projects" to be carried out in Islamic Cairo in this newspaper earlier this year, "having let the original masterpieces go to pieces, we must now cover up our mistakes and silence international criticism. Tourism is an integral part of our ailing economy, and we are in the business of attracting foreign visitors. They want monuments? We will give them what they want, and more. For their sake, we will make our old mosques, churches, madrasas and sabils [fountains] look brand-new, with extra decorations in Carara marble, heavily gilded bronzes and several coats of imported acrylic paint. We will banish the indigenous population and their less- than-decorative traditional activities... We will pave the streets for their convenience and transform our haras and places of worship into a showcase, a super-Arabland complete with make-believe artisans, cafés and souvenir shops." Heritage as Disneyland is one danger in Islamic Cairo, with others including the strains placed on areas and buildings by growing population density, the occasional flouting of building regulations and the area's rising water table, which is having a disastrous effect on the foundations of many old buildings. Elsewhere in Egypt, the St Menas Monastery in the Maryout Desert south of Alexandria, also registered in 1979, was placed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger in 2001, following concerns over steps carried out by the authorities to prevent the collapse of the monastery by filling the crypt, containing the tomb of St Menas, with sand. Built in the 3rd century, the monastery is named after the early Christian martyr Menas of Alexandria, and today it is under threat from a regional land- reclamation programme that has caused a dramatic raise in the water table. The local soil, exclusively clay, is capable of supporting buildings when in a dry state, but it becomes semi-liquid with excess water, leading to their collapse. Problems such as these can point to larger issues in managing the international convention. Following its adoption by the UNESCO General Conference in November 1972, the convention had been ratified by 20 countries by 1975, with 175 countries having signed by 2002. Under its terms, the state concerned pledges to protect its cultural and natural heritage, putting forward a selection of sites of "outstanding universal value" within its borders for registration on the UNESCO list. In order for these sites to be registered, a panel of international experts assesses the nominated site's importance, as well as the management and protection plan put forward for its protection, frequently acting on advice received from other international bodies, such as ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), IUCN (the World Conservation Union) and ICCROM (the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property). Inscription on the World Heritage List can act to raise awareness of heritage preservation, which can in turn lead to a rise in the level of protection and conservation afforded to heritage sites. Regular reporting on the state of conservation of inscribed sites ensures the upkeep of their outstanding qualities, and assistance is available to states' parties in order to assist with technical co-operation, including training. World Heritage Sites may bear the World Heritage logo, and inscription on the list can significantly enhance the tourism potential of a given site. However, responsibility for the upkeep of sites on the World Heritage List rests with the states themselves, and UNESCO's World Heritage Centre can react to abuses only by placing the site concerned on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Today, 33 sites worldwide, 15 cultural and 18 natural, have been added to this list, 13 of these being in Sub- Saharan Africa, three in Europe, six in Asia and six in the Arab World. In addition to the St Menas Monastery in Egypt, these Arab sites include the town of Zabid in Yemen, registered as world heritage in 1993 and placed on the in-danger list in 2000 as a result of the unchecked deterioration of the historic buildings and their widespread replacement by concrete structures. They also include the Bahla Fort in Oman, an earthen brick and stone structure registered in 1988 and now under threat of collapse, and the Old City of Jerusalem. This site, nominated by Jordan to the World Heritage List in 1981 and placed on the List of Heritage in Danger in 1982, suffers from almost unparalleled "threats to religious properties, threats of destruction following uncontrolled urban development and threats of the general deterioration of the state of conservation of the city's monuments due to the disastrous impact of tourism and to lack of maintenance", all of which have been exacerbated by the political situation in the city. Some 30 years after the adoption of the UNESCO convention and with it the formal recognition of the concept of world cultural heritage -- heritage that it is the duty of all of us to safeguard, learn from and enjoy -- it seems that environmental, political and population pressures are conspiring to render the threats greater than ever.
