Stephan Doempke, World Heritage Watch: Strategic Goals, Achievements and Challenges after Four Years

Abstract

The World Heritage Committee routinely receives information about the state of conservation of WH properties from State Parties or ICOMOS orIUCN mission reports. While State Party Reports are often incomplete, outdated or even incorrect, Advisory Missions suffer from being too short and understaffed in order to fully grasp the local situation. The author will show that the observations of civil society must be brought in as checks and balances to let the WH Committee have a full understanding of the dynamics that affect World Heritage Properties. For many years, UNESCO has been requiring the participation of local communities in all procedures of the World Heritage Convention - from tentative lists and nominations to management and monitoring.