ICOMOS Austria Inaugurates the First ICOMOS Capacity Building for HIA in a World Heritage Context
Recognising the need of heritage professionals to strengthen their expertise in Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) implementation, ICOMOS launched a ‘Capacity building for Heritage Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context’ workshop series in July 2024.
The first workshop of the series is organised with ICOMOS Austria and takes place this September.
As threats to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of World Heritage sites grow, Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) have become crucial tools for their management and mitigation. HIAs offer a structured approach to guide decisions, ensure sustainability, and help prevent or minimise negative impacts. Using UNESCO, ICCROM, IUCN and ICOMOS’ 2022 “Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context” as a reference, ICOMOS’ capacity building initiative focuses on guiding national and local stakeholders in integrating HIA into their decision-making processes for interventions that may affect World Heritage properties.
The first course of the series is organised in close coordination, partnership and logistical support with ICOMOS Austria and involves the participation of 24 heritage professionals.
It consists of 3 separate phases:
- an online phase of 3-hour sessions, which took place on 10 and 13 September 2024;
- a 3-day onsite in-person phase, including a case study project for group work, from 18 to 20 September 2024;
- a voluntary online consultation with ICOMOS resource persons to respond to queries, assist with challenges and discuss conclusions.
Richard Mackay (ICOMOS World Heritage Advisor) and Nicholas Clarke (ICOMOS World Heritage Advisor) were appointed as Resource People, assisted by Michael Schimek (ICOMOS Austria) and Ulrike Herbig (ICOMOS Austria).
President of ICOMOS Austria, Caroline Jäger-Klein and Director General of ICOMOS, Marie-Laure Lavenir gave introductory remarks during the first session of the online phase, which featured a general introduction to the participants, the training programme and the ‘Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context’.
The second online session introduced the attendees to the basic concepts of World Heritage (OUV, Convention Obligations, Operational Guidelines) and to the case study of the Heiligenkreuz Castle and its Estates site, considered a ‘fictitious’ World Heritage property.
The in-person phase takes place at the Heiligenkreuz Castle on 18 September and at the Swiss Association in Vienna on 19 and 20 September.
The first session features presentations and groupwork tasks on Statements of Outstanding Universal Value (SOUV), OUVs and other values, attributes and boundaries, stakeholders – as well as a site visit to the Heiligenkreuz Castle.
The second session is focused on impact identification, tools and stakeholders, and, finally, the third session outlines the content of an impact assessment report, describes the decision-making reporting and presents the legal context in Austria.
Stay tuned for the next workshop taking place in Malta this autumn!