Heritage represents the things we want to keep. Therefore, heritage is the things of value which are inherited. If the value is personal we speak of the legacy of family or personal heritage, if the value is communal or national, we speak of ‘our’ heritage. The World Heritage Convention, often regarded as the pinnacle of international heritage conservation efforts, idealistically aims to conserve places which have universal value for the whole of humankind. The notion of inheritance and the responsibilities that it entails are at the heart of the World Heritage Convention. For example, Article 4 of the Convention states that each party to the Convention recognizes ‘the duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the world’s cultural and natural heritage’ (World Heritage Centre 2008).