Convergence of Youth Power for the Exchanges on World Heritage Protection

On the evening of July 9, the closing ceremony of the World Heritage Young Professionals Forum was held. After several days of intense “brainstorming”, the young professionals at the forum eventually completed a document titled “Youth Voices on World Heritage and Sustainable Livelihoods”, through attendance in thematic speeches, panel discussions, group presentations and cases studies, etc.

“The world’s heritage belongs to the youth, so the roles and the voices of the youth in the future development of the heritage are very important. I also hope that the voice of the youth around the world can be conveyed in the best way and to the broadest scope through this forum, thus injecting impetus to the protection and development of heritage,” said Li Xin, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Heritage Training and Research Institute for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO at the venue of the forum. The document mainly focuses on three sub-themes: “World Heritage: People and Governance”, “World Heritage: Tourism and Community Development”, and “World Heritage: Community Empowerment through Innovation”. It is hoped that various stakeholders can participate in the heritage protection to promote it through cultural innovation and tourism development, and that youth power can draw high attention in the process so that the youth can give better play to their advantages.

Next, the document incorporating the wisdom of 32 young professionals from 30 countries around the world will be submitted to the Session to show the world the active role of the youth in world heritage protection.

Management Experience Sharing for Lighting the Sparks of Wisdom

On the same day, the World Heritage Site Managers Forum entered the most intense phase. Experts and scholars in heritage management from various countries engaged in discussions and experience exchanges around the topic, “Who to involve for change preparation and how? – stakeholders, rightsholders, community engagement”, pushing the on-site atmosphere to a climax.

“The stakeholders and rightsholders of heritage sites are actually the groups with different appeals closely related to heritage protection, utilization and development. We hope the connections between them and the managers, who have long been working in the heritage sites, can be made through this forum, so that heritage protection and utilization can be better realized” said Shang Jin, Head of the Consulting Department, Qingyuan Shiye(Beijing) Cultural Consulting Co., Ltd. He noted that Fujian Province itself is very rich in cultural heritage resources, and Fujian’s practice in heritage protection also left a very deep impression on him. “Fuzhou’s Three Lanes and Seven Alleys is a typical urban historical district, which provides good experience in the combination of historical protection and modern life, as well as the cultural inheritance and business development. It maintains the vitality in the district rather than keep it stagnant, which is very worthy of reference and study. ”

Zhang Yan, Associate Researcher of Ningbo Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage Management, expressed that she benefited a lot from participating in this forum. Taking the world cultural heritage site, China’s Grand Canal, as an example, she described the important role of heritage site managers in balancing the relationship between the stakeholders and the rightsholders in regard to cultural heritage protection. She presented that China’s Grand Canal was a linear cultural heritage running through a comparatively large area. It is involved in different protection requirements of various laws and regulations formulated by multiple departments of water conservancy, cultural protection, environmental protection, meteorology and so on. In addition, it concerns the living environment of surrounding residents. Therefore, it is necessary for the standards of various departments to be integrated. What’s more, site managers should continuously explore reasonable protection approaches accommodating various stakeholder groups, and promote common progress through constant communication. (Reporter Ye Xintong)