World Heritage Committee Meeting Cartagena Dec. 6-11

pstott@IGC.APC.ORG
Sun, 5 Dec 1993 21:34:12 -0800

Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage," is the primary
instrument in international law protecting natural and cultural sites of
"universal" significance. Signed in 1972, the Convention has been ratified
by 136 countries, and 378 sites have been placed on the list of properties
meriting the world's protection and management. The Convention's
Secretariat is established within the structure of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), headquartered
in Paris.

Each year at this time, the World Heritage Committee meets to make
additions to the World Heritage List, based on nominations by Parties to
the Convention of sites in their territories that meet the Convention's
rigorous criteria. Two NGOs are assigned the task of reviewing properties
for their eligibility: IUCN-The World Conservation Union; and the
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). The Committee also
reviews the reports made by IUCN and ICOMOS on conditions at existing World
Heritage sites, and allocates monies from the World Heritage Fund for
threatened World Heritage properties.

This year, the seventeenth annual session of the Committee is being
hosted by the Colombian government in Cartagena, the Caribbean resort whose
Port, Fortresses, and Monuments were named to the World Heritage List in
1984. (The meeting coincides with a critical meeting of the Global
Environmental Facility, also being held in Cartagena.)

We view this meeting as an opportunity to demonstrate the potential
that electronic communication holds for the heritage conservation
community. Beginning with the opening session of the Committee on Monday,
December 6, reports from each day's proceedings will be posted to several
different bulletin boards, newsgroups, and mailing lists: icomos.talk of
the Canadian National Committee of the International Council on Monuments
and Sites (ICOMOS); PreserveLink of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation (U.S.); Cin.network of the Conservation Information Network
and Canadian Heritage Information Network; the mailing list ANTHRO-L;
newsgroups sci.archaeology and sci.anthropology; and Landmarks.doc, a
conference on several networks of the Association for Progressive
Communication, including EcoNet/PeaceNet (IGC), GreenNet, Web, Pegasus, and
AlterNex. The postings will also be available by gopher at igc.org (under
the topic Environment).

For more information about any of the non-profit services noted
above, write to the following Internet addresses:

* ICOMOS Canada
steve@icomos.org

* National Trust for Historic Preservation (U.S.)
/PN=NTHP/O=Local.exchange/ADMD=telemail/C=US/@sprint.com

* Conservation Information Network/Canadian Heritage Information Network
/c=ca/admd=telecom.canada/o=gemdes/ddt=id/ddv=mus.ser/
@gemdes.carleton.ca

* Association for Progressive Communication
apcadmin@ax.apc.org or support@igc.apc.org

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W o r l d H e r i t a g e C o m m i t t e e
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-------- Annual Meeting, Cartagena, Colombia, December 6-11, 1993 --------
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This distribution is made possible through the cooperation of the Canadian
National Committee of ICOMOS, the Institute for Global Communications, and
a grant from Martha S. Diener. The reports are those of an observer of the
meetings and do not represent official publications of either the World
Heritage Centre or any delegation.
Inqueries to the distribution coordinator, Peter Stott
<pstott@igc.apc.org> or <pstott@icomos.org> or fax> to (57-53) 655-145.
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