Green Light for Namhansanseong Fortress’s Designation as World Heritage Site
(Published December 6, 2011)

-‘Periodic Reporting on the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention for Asia’ hosted in Suwon from December 7 to10th
–130 world heritage managers from 27 nations participate. ; On-site survey of Namhansanseong Fortress

– The UNESCO Periodic Reporting on the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention for Asia is takes place in Suwon for 4 days from December 7th to 10th. Gyeonggi Province expects the conference to help secure Namhansanseong Fortress’s designation as a World Heritage Site. The photo shows Namhansanseong Sueojangdae. (G G-News Plus)

The prospective UNESCO World Heritage Site Namhansanseong Fortress will deliver a presentation outlining its value as a world heritage site to heritage professionals from each nation.

The ‘UNESCO Periodic Reporting on the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention for Asia’, co-hosted by Gyeonggi Province, the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, and Suwon City, supervised by the UNESCO World Heritage Center and the UNESCO Korea Committee, and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is takes place in Suwon for 4 days from December 7th to 10th.

The World Heritage Regular Report is an institutionalized event that enables countries to report on the progress in their implementation of the World Heritage Treaty in accordance with the UNESCO World Heritage Treaty Section 29.

This UNESCO Periodic Reporting on the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention for Asia is an important event with a mandate to inspect the values of previously designated world heritages and improve the world heritage preservation and management capacities of each nation. In addition, this event marks the beginning of the establishment of a network among heritage managers and departments.

Some 130 people from 27 Asian nations including world heritage managers, the president of the world heritage advisory body, and an international advisory panel will inspect the implementation of the World Heritage Treaty, evaluate the preservation status of 164 world heritages, and discuss ways of developing a common future strategy for world heritage preservation.

Korea will report on the preservation status of ten world heritages including the Historic Villages of Korea, Hahoe and Yangdong, which were registered last year.

In addition to the general conference, regional and group conferences, and the working group conference, the event will host an on-site survey of Hwaseong Fortress, a registered UNESCO world heritage, and Namhansanseong Fortress, a potential world heritage candidate.

On the first day (December 7th) of the conference, world heritage advisory bodies including the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Nature Resource, and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, and the representatives of 27 countries gave presentations and engaged in discussion.

During working conference by region and topic on December 8th, the participants will be divided into four groups to facilitate in-depth topic presentations and discussions. The Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea will also present a case of Korea’s World Heritage monitoring.

During the general conference on December 9th, the final recommendation and the implementation plans for the 2nd Asia Pacific Region Regular Report, to be submitted to the 36th World Heritage Committee, will be determined based on the contents discussed during December 7th and 8th. The 36th World Heritage Conference will take place in Russia in June of 2012.

On the December 10th, all the participants will visit Namhansanseong Fortress, a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Hwaseong Fortress, a registered World Heritage Site.

Based on this conference, Korea’s views will be actively incorporated when establishing future strategies concerning the implementation of the World Heritage Treaty.

In particular, Gyeonggi Province expects this conference to serve as a determining factor in Namhansanseong Fortress’s registration as a world heritage site.

– G G-News Plus News | Son Rak-hun kuni1202@naver.com 

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