ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) celebrates World Environment Day by respecting the interconnection between nature and culture, learn more about the World Heritage Leadership Programme: https://www.iccrom.org/section/world-heritage-leadership
The World Heritage Leadership Programme is a partnership between ICCROM, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites). The Cultural Heritage Administrative (CHA) of the Republic of Korea has also recently pledged its support to the World Heritage Leadership Programme, namely to support the course activity of People Centred Approaches to the Conservation of Nature and Culture course (PNC).
As CSVPA members know, nature and culture are complementary, inseparable and interdependent, the cultural identity of different people having being forged in the environment in which they lived. Just as the creative works of humankind are often inspired by the beauty of their natural surroundings, some of the most spectacular natural sites bear the imprint of centuries of human activity.
ICCROM works within World Heritage Leadership is to re-establish the link between conserving natural and cultural values, to promote a holistic landscape approach for the conservation of heritage. The linking of nature and culture in heritage conservation can only be done by understanding the interrelationships that people have with their surrounding environment – how they live in it, how they value it, and how they protect it.
For this agenda ICCROM is now revising the manuals on managing World Heritage, so that cultural heritage and natural heritage will be managed in connection. Creating an enabling environment for managing change and continuity will allow us to protect the heritage and environment we value, but also provide us with the opportunity of exploring better opportunities for sustainable development.
