ICOMOS AND THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION

In an attempt to achieve, as far as possible, the proper identification, protection, conservation, and preservation of the world's irreplaceable heritage, the Member States of UNESCO adopted in 1972 the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (better known as the World Heritage Convention). The Convention complements heritage conservation programmes at the national level and provides for the establishment of a World Heritage Committee and a World Heritage Fund. The World Heritage Committee has, among other essential functions, to identify, on the basis of nominations submitted by States Parties to the Convention, cultural, natural and mixed properties of outstanding universal value which are to be protected under the Convention and to list those properties on the World Heritage List.

ICOMOS is named in the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention as one of the three formal advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee, along with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), based at Gland (Switzerland), and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), based in Rome (Italy). It is the professional and scientific advisor to the World Heritage Committee on all aspects of the cultural heritage. It takes part in the work of the World Heritage Committee and in the implementation of the Convention.

ICOMOS is responsible for the evaluation of all nominations of cultural and mixed properties made to the World Heritage List by States Parties to the World Heritage Convention against the basic criterion of “outstanding universal value” and the criteria laid down by the World Heritage Convention.

ICOMOS EVALUATION PROCEDURE OF PROPERTIES SUBMITTED FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST

There is a clearly defined annual procedure and timetable for the processing of nominations to the World Heritage List.

All new nominations are to be sent by States Parties to the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO, in Paris by 1st February each year. UNESCO officials check the elaborate nomination dossiers for completeness and deliver them to ICOMOS by 15 March, where they are handled by the officials of ICOMOS International Secretariat, who deal with World Heritage.

At ICOMOS International Secretariat, the world heritage team studies the dossiers, in order to ascertain the nature of the property that is proposed, and the first action involved is the choice of the experts who are to be consulted. The process of selecting experts makes full use of the ICOMOS networking potential.

The evaluation procedure involves two separate groups of experts for each property. The first one advises on the “outstanding universal value” of the nominated property. This is essentially a “library” exercise, and may sometimes involve non-ICOMOS members, in cases where there is not considered to be adequate expertise within the ICOMOS “family” on a specific topic.

The second one must have a practical experience of the management, conservation, and authenticity aspects of individual properties. In selecting experts to carry out the confidential on-site evaluation missions, the policy of ICOMOS is wherever possible to choose someone from the region - not the country - in which the nominated property is located. Such experts are expected to be able to talk to site managers on a basis of professional equality and to make informed assessments of management plans, conservation practices, visitor handling, etc.

ICOMOS equally seeks the advice of specialist bodies, with whom it has close relationships: the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), and the International Committee for the Documentation and Conservation of Monuments and Sites of the Modern Movement (DOCOMOMO).

The ICOMOS Secretariat receives the two reports that emerge from these consultations by the end of September (though occasionally missions are delayed for climatic or political reasons).

From these two reports, together with the nomination dossier prepared by the State Party, the ICOMOS Secretariat produces a draft evaluation and recommendation. This report contains a brief description and history of the property, summaries of its legislative protection, management, and state of conservation, comments on these aspects, and recommendations to the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel.

These draft evaluations are then presented to a two- or three-day meeting of the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel, held at the beginning of December. The Panel comprises the twenty-six elected or co-opted members of the Executive Committee, who come from all parts of the world, and possess a wide range of skills and experience, together with two or three international experts, all members of ICOMOS, chosen for their particular field of expertise in relation to the nature of the proposed properties.

Following the adoption of a recommendation by the Panel, the evaluations are revised and printed, for presentation to the meeting of the Bureau of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in Paris in April in the following year. The Bureau makes its own recommendations, which are incorporated in the definitive evaluations.

The final stage in this procedure involves the presentation of each nomination to the full World Heritage Committee, at a meeting held in June each year at a different venue.

It is at the meetings of the full Committee that decisions are taken regarding inscription on the World Heritage List.

CRITERIONS FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The single criterion for inscription on the World Heritage List set out in the Convention, that of “outstanding universal value,” is altogether too non-specific for practical application. As a result, the World Heritage Committee has defined six specific criteria against which nominated properties should be compared; for inscription they must conform with one or more of these and with the test of authenticity. A property may:

represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; or
exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architec­ture, monumental arts or town-planning and landscape design; or
bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a civilisation or cultural tradition which is living or which has disappeared; or
be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; or
be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it had become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; or
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 justify inclusion on the List only in exceptional circumstances and in conjunction with other criteria, cultural or natural).


ICOMOS RECOMMENDATIONS

In making its recommendations, there are four possible choices open to ICOMOS:

• inscription on the World Heritage List without further action;
  
• rejection;
  
• referral for the provision of additional information by the time of the full Committee meeting. Referral carries with it the presumption of eventual inscription. This procedure is used when, for instance, ICOMOS recommends a relatively minor redefinition of boundaries or requests further information on management plans.
  
• deferral to a subsequent meeting, to await further supporting information. It may result in ICOMOS commissioning a comparative study from an individual expert or a specialised body (which may be one of its own international scientific committees). In other cases deferral may stem from the need for a satisfactory management plan to be drawn up and implemented or for significant changes to be made in the area proposed for inscription.

REPORTS ON THE STATE OF CONSERVATION OF PROPERTIES INSCRIBED ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST

ICOMOS is also actively involved, through its international secretariat and its national and international committees, in the preparation of reports on the state of conservation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. This constitutes an ever-increasing aspect of the work of the World Heritage Committee, which has recently put into operation a procedure for regular reporting on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties by States Parties to the Convention, in which ICOMOS experts and national committees are often involved.

EVALUATION REQUESTS FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE

The Convention provides for the establishment of a World Heritage Fund, made up of the subscriptions of the States Parties. ICOMOS advises the World Heritage Centre on requests for international assistance received from States Parties. This is allocated under four headings: Preparatory Assistance, Technical Assistance, Emergency Assistance, and Training.

THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONVENTION

ICOMOS is closely associated with all aspects of the intellectual development of the World Heritage Convention. Through regional conferences and workshops and the publication of reports and thematic studies it has made major contributions to the development of the Global Strategy defined by the World Heritage Committee in 1985. It has played a key role in the definition of the concepts of authenticity and cultural landscapes. Other areas in which ICOMOS is working include the extension of the scope of the heritage to non-monumental cultures, to the recognition of the industrial heritage in close collaboration with TICCIH, and to the architectural and urban heritage of the twentieth century, working with DOCOMOMO.

CONCLUSION

ICOMOS gives the highest priority to its work in connection with the World Heritage Convention, since this enables the organisation to mobilise its unique scientific and professional resources and make them available to all the countries of the world and to all humankind, thereby fulfilling its declared objectives.