Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage organises workshop with the ICOMOS SDGs Working Group

As part of the activities developed in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018 between ICOMOS International and the Arab Regional Center for World Heritage (ARC-WH), a ‘First Workshop on Integrating the Policy Document on World Heritage and Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda into the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Arab States’ has been held online on 31 May, 1-2, 7-8 & 10 June 2021.

The workshop was organised by the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) in collaboration with the ICOMOS Sustainable Development Goals Working Group (SDGs WG) with the support of the ICOMOS International Secretariat.

It aimed to enhancing the understanding and application of World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy, the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, and the 2030 Agenda for the effective implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Arab region.

The ambition of this workshop was to strengthen a regional approach for the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the protection and management of World Heritage sites, so as to reinforce the preservation efforts against development pressures and other threats originating in disintegrated and unsustainable planning and decision making.

Focal Points and Site Managers from the Arab region participated to the workshop to increase their capacities towards a better understanding of cultural and natural heritage conservation in the framework of the SDGs towards the sustainable development and management of World Heritage Sites.

Participants received extensive training in the Recommendations of the HUL and how the Recommendations may be integrated into the World Heritage Convention and identify compatible SDG strategies for the enhanced protection of World Heritage Sites in the region.

ICOMOS express its gratitude to the experts of the ICOMOS SDGs Working Group that served as resource persons for the workshop: Peter Phillips, Gabriel Caballero, Luisa De Marco, Naima Benkari, Susan Fayad, Ona Vileikis, Jordi Tresserras, Monica Rhodes and Lina Kutiefan, for their valuable involvement in this project and the representatives of the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage and the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities for their fruitful collaboration.

A second edition for the workshop should be organised later in 2021, dates are to be announced soon.