ICOMOS and GHF join forces for cultural heritage and sustainable development

Great news comes with the International Day for Monuments and Sites this year as the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) celebrated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18 April 2021.

Aimed at creating a framework for collaboration to develop, evaluate and promote cultural heritage practices that support sustainable development, the MoU was signed by Teresa Patrício, President of ICOMOS and Nada Hosking, Executive Director of the Global Heritage Fund.

The partnership between ICOMOS and GHF will raise awareness of projects embedding heritage as a driver for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It is intended to develop an assessment framework that will evaluate the sustainability of cultural heritage conservation projects in different parts of the world, using the recently released ICOMOS policy, “Heritage and the Sustainable Development Goals: Policy Guidance for Heritage and Development Actors”.

Nada Hosking, Executive Director of GHF explained, “The mutually beneficial partnership aims to strengthen sustainable cultural heritage practices as exemplified in the way we develop projects scopes, invest in cultural heritage preservation, and promote innovation and entrepreneurship within the communities we partner with. Devising specific plans to make measurable improvements over time isn’t easy. Anchoring our work with the SDGs help us as an organisation to do just that and ensure our projects impacts are formally recorded against measurable data.”

Gabriel Caballero, ICOMOS Focal Point for the UN Sustainable Development Goals shared his excitement: “This collaboration is important for us in ICOMOS as we search for case studies that improve the quality of life for people living in and around heritage sites, providing inclusive social and economic development and integrating environmental sustainability. We hope to test out the policies we create and learn more from local site managers and stakeholders to further articulate what sustainability means on the ground.”

Teresa Patrício, President of ICOMOS stressed that “Developing global partnerships is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. Reconciling theory and practice, this partnership will mobilise our organisations to share our knowledge and expertise in order to harness the power of heritage to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Photo: In Morocco, communal granaries remain a powerful symbol of Amazigh societies where each building demonstrates the social and technological innovations of local builders. Global Heritage Fund is revitalizing these sacred earthen buildings and protecting the heritage of Amazigh communities, while bolstering local economic opportunities by leveraging heritage-led regeneration as a stimulus for community empowerment. © Global Heritage Fund

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See also

ICOMOS and Sustainable Development