Abstract
According to the World Heritage Convention, rural landscapes are evolving cultural landscapes and their heritage and management is a major international concern. The proposal of UNESCO World Heritage Sustainable Tourism (WH+ST)’ has enlightened different arguments about protection and utilisation of the value of rural landscape heritage. The Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of rural landscapes results from the interaction of nature and humankind. Local community residents are critical for the sustainable tourism development of rural landscape heritage. Landscapes would lose their authenticity and integrity without participation of community residents. At the same time tourism is promoting the economic development of communities, tourism will affect its natural environment and social culture in varying extents. Because of such impacts, rural landscapes are subject to the risk of becoming overly commercialised. In this sense, the discussion will focus on how to achieve balance among the various forces stemming from protection of the OUV of rural heritage, economic development and sustainable community-based tourism. This paper is based on field research at the World Heritage Hani Rice Terraces at Azheke Village (Yunnan Province, China). At this site, the agricultural landscape, architectural design, rural culture, and social traditions have confronted challenges because of the rapid development of the tourism industry soon after designation as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The planning was carried out in respect of three key problems: (1) How to motivate community residents’ sense of recognition and honour of the heritage value? (2) How to create the manner and approach for the community residents to participate in rural sustainable tourism? and (3) How to improve the social residents’ interests in the course of developing rural heritage tourism? Specific planning measures and suggestions have also been proposed in hopes that community residents take the initiative to protect, utilise and undertake the OUV of the Hani Rice Terraces.
Highlights
The rural landscape, as the ‘combined works of nature and humankind’ (UNESCO 2015), originated from the people’s production and utilisation of natural resources
The UNESCO ‘World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme’ represents a new approach based on dialogue and stakeholder cooperation, in the course of which the planning of tourism and heritage management has been integrated at a destination level, and the natural and cultural assets are valued and protected to develop tourism appropriately (UNESCO 2015)
As far as the sustainable tourism development of the rural landscape heritage sites is concerned, the problems will be more comprehensive and complex while the human are interacting with nature in a continuous manner
Summary
The rural landscape, as the ‘combined works of nature and humankind’ (UNESCO 2015), originated from the people’s production and utilisation of natural resources. Sustainable tourism promotes stakeholders’ action, enables them to understand, cherish and protect the OUV of rural heritage sites, offers high-quality tourism products and services with affection, education and protection against development of the rural landscape, culture and the life style. As verified by the Baghdad case, unless the city authorities were able to maintain the balance between the needs of the indigenous population and the tourists, there would be possibilities that a new legitimation crisis would emerge (Cooper and Morpeth 1998); ‘the sustainable integration of cultural heritage and tourism shall cover local involvement, balance of authenticity and interpretation and shift towards sustainability-centred tourism management and practice’ (Loulanski 2011). As the ‘connection’ of the value carrier in the course of continuation, these indigenous peoples further undertake the ‘context’ of heritage value and achieve the unity of form and spirit
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