SPOTLIGHT
The World Heritage Committee has 46 other sites besides Preah Vihear on its meeting agenda, writes Kultida Samabuddhi
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| Malaysia wants to add its Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (Melaka and Georgetown) to Unesco's list. |
Hiraizumi, the cultural landscape associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology, proposed by Japan. |
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| India proposes the inscription of Mountain Railways, which is an extension to include the Kalka Shimla Railway |
Cultural Landscape of Bali province, proposed by Indonesia. |
If anything good has come out of the controversy over Wat Preah Vihear, it is that it has raised Thai people's awareness of world heritage affairs.
Never before had a meeting of Thailand's national world heritage committee caught the public eye like last Friday's session, when a troupe of reporters gathered outside the meeting room eagerly waiting for the committee's resolutions.
The usually quiet office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in the Ekamai area has become busy over the past month, with various groups of visitors showing up - from university lecturers and senators, to the leader of the opposition.
And without the Preah Vihear row, very few Thais would care about the World Heritage Committee's 32nd session in Quebec, which begins today.
Foreign Ministry officials will lead the Thai delegation, which comprises representatives of several agencies including the Culture Ministry, the military and the national world heritage committee.
Embattled Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama is still deciding whether to attend the meeting or not.
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| Fujian Tulou, proposed by China, is a unique residential building complex in China's mountainous areas. It is a creative masterpiece in raw earth architecture. — Photos courtesy of WWW.OURPLACEWORLDHERITAGE.COM |
Many Thais and Cambodians will be avidly following what happens at the nine-day meeting in Quebec.
The 21-member panel will consider Cambodia's request for the inclusion of the Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear on Unesco's World Heritage List.
However, the Preah Vihear listing is not the only issue to be tabled at the high-profile meeting, and the public should not let nationalist sentiment overshadow other important and interesting items on the agenda of the meeting.
According to Unesco, which serves as secretariat to the World Heritage Committee, this year's session will see 41 states proposing sites for inclusion on the World Heritage List.
A total of 13 natural and 34 cultural sites will be submitted for consideration.
While Thailand and Cambodia are keeping a close watch on the committee's decision on Wat Preah Vihear, people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Italy and Mexico will be keeping their fingers crossed, hoping the committee will endorse their natural and cultural sites as new World Heritage sites.
Besides Wat Preah Vihear, proposed cultural sites from the Asia-Pacific region include Fujian Tulou (China), historic monuments and sites in Kaesong (Korea), mountain railways of India, the cultural landscape of Bali province (Indonesia), historic cities of the straits of Malacca (Malaysia) and Hiraizumi, a cultural landscape associated with Buddhist cosmology (Japan).
The proposed natural sites from around the world include the Joggins fossil cliffs (Canada), Mount Sanqingshan national park (China), lagoons of New Caledonia (France), the monarch butterfly biosphere reserve (Mexico), and the Socotra archipelago (Yemen).
In assessing World Heritage nominations, the committee, chaired by Canada, is assisted by international non-governmental organisations which are asked to provide impartial professional evaluations.
The International Council for Monuments and Sites advises on cultural properties while the World Conservation Union advises on natural properties.
The evaluations undertaken by these advisory bodies are considered by the committee in deciding whether a site should be included on the World Heritage List or not.
To date, 851 sites of outstanding universal value - comprising 660 cultural sites, 166 natural sites and 25 mixed sites - in 141 countries are listed and protected under Unesco's 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Not only the Thai and Cambodian delegations will find the meeting of the international experts in Canada tense.
There are also countries whose World Heritage sites are listed as being in danger.
The list of those in danger features sites which are threatened by a variety of problems such as natural disasters, pillaging, pollution and poorly managed mass tourism, which may have a negative impact on the universal values for which they were inscribed on the World Heritage List.
According to Unesco, among sites on the list in danger, the cultural landscape of Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley will come under particular scrutiny.
"The committee will decide whether to keep the property on the World Heritage List or whether the building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants its deletion from the list," Unesco states on its website.
The committee may also decide to add new sites to the list of properties whose preservation requires special attention.
Thailand currently has five natural and cultural Word Heritage sites and authorities have tried their best to prevent them from being put on the danger list.
One of the most vulnerable sites is the historical city of Ayutthaya and Associated Historic Towns, which has been under threat from tourism-related activities and annual floods.
The site was put on the World Heritage list in 1991.
Thailand's latest world heritage site, the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest complex, is also reportedly under close watch by the World Heritage body.
The committee earlier suggested that Thai authorities mitigate the impact of highway No. 304, which runs through the forest complex in the eastern provinces, on the movements of wild animals.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and the Highways Department have been working together to build a wildlife crossing and will report on progress to the committee in Quebec.
The Preah Vihear proposal will be one of the hottest issues, but the meeting will surely have dozens of interesting stories other than the dispute over the ancient Hindu temple for the public to catch up on.
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