Periodic Reporting under the World Heritage Convention: Futures and Possible Responses to Loss

Abstract

ABSTRACT Periodic reporting begins with an information gathering exercise about the application of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention at national and property levels. A State Party fills a questionnaire, consisting of two sections, to complete this exercise. The questionnaire does not deal with loss despite its attention to current and potential negative factors, such as climate change. However, it can be revised during a ‘reflection period’ before a new cycle of periodic reporting starts. This article proposes adding future-oriented questions to the next (fourth) cycle questionnaire in order for actors in the World Heritage system to have constructive discussions on futures and possible responses to loss. This proposal may improve links with reactive monitoring to optimise the use of financial and technical resources, and help the World Heritage Committee resolve policy issues raised by climate change. The article engages with scholarly literature on future-thinking, climate change, and heritage loss nonetheless and suggests that dealing with loss may be facilitated if World Heritage requirements are rethought, notably if integrity is understood as a dynamic manifestation of changes and continuities over time, and if Outstanding Universal Value is understood as an evolving value that can be renewed or redefined.