WikiIndaba conference 2019/Submissions/Working together with UNESCO - preserving African heritage/content
UNESCO is the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Organisational organisation, respectively in French Organisation des Nations unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture. It has 193 member states.
Among many other works in education and science UNESCOs goal is to preserve cultural heritage. But what is cultural heritage?
The Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies of the UNESCO from 1982 says:
"In its widest sense, culture may now be said to be the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs."
This sounds like culture or like everything but not like the landscapes and architectures that are know as UNESCO heritage sites. So let’s see all the different types of heritage that UNESCO tries to honour and preserve:
1. World Heritage Sites (since 1972) edit
There are 1121 world heritage sites in 167 different countries. Those sites are witnesses of past cultures, material signs of meeting and exchange, art and landscapes. What they have in common is their extraordinary value for the entire humankind. This sites should be protected, maintained and preserved. It is the entire planets task to protect these sites.
Nigeria for example has two of those:
- Sukur Cultural Landscape (UNESCO page) in Adamawa State in the Mandara Mountains. Africa's first cultural landscape to become World Heritage. Furnaces, ore, grindstones, terracing since the Iron Age. All this and the local culture, burial rites and housing present a heritage status.
- Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove (UNESCO page). That is a sacred forest in Osun State, the biggest Yorùbá sacred forest.
2. Intangible Cultural Heritage (since 2003) edit
This includes dances, theatre, music, customs, festival and handicraft skills. All those contain creativity and continuity and identity and has an important role in the development of humankind. Worldwide there are 508 entries from 122 countries.
Nigeria has 4 of them:
- Argungu international fishing and cultural festival (UNESCO page)
- en:Ijele Masquerade (UNESCO page)
- Ifà divination system (UNESCO page)
- Oral heritage of Gelede (UNESCO page)
3. Memory of the World Programme (since 1992) edit
This contains documents in archives, libraries and museums that remind of turning points in human history and collective memory. They should be preserved and the availability and awareness of them should be increased. Worldwide the list consists of 427 documents.
African examples:
- The Dutch West India Company archives in Accra (UNESCO page)
- The Criminal Court Case "State versus Nelson Mandela" in Pretoria. (UNESCO page)
4. Nature reserves (or more precise Biosphere reserves) (since 1970) edit
They are model regions for sustainable development and preservation of nature. There are 701 reserves in 124 countries. This plays a major role in the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The network of the African reserves is called AfriMAB and exists since 1996 (Man and the Biosphere Programme).
Example from Nigeria:
- Omo. The Omo Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO page) is 135 km north east of Lagos. A very diverse region with chimpanzees, different type of rainforest and the largest variety of butterflies in Africa. But it is populated.
5. UNESCO Global Geoparks (since 2015) edit
Places where you can experience world's history. Like fossil finding places, caves, mines, rock formations. Learning from the history can sustainably develop the future. There are 147 UNESCO Geoparks in 41 countries.
There are only two geoparks in Africa:
- M'Goun Global Geopark in Morocco (UNESCO page): Valleys, natural curiosities, fossilised footprints, engravings and authentic Berber villages.
- Ngorongoro Lengai Geopark (UNESCO page), a region near Arusha in Tanzania, which is described as “extraordinary volcano, extraordinary paleoanthropological sites and extraordinary wildlife.
Red List edit
53 of the world’s heritage sites are in danger of extinction (UNESCO page). 41% of these are in Arab countries and 30% in African countries. They are on the red list of the UNESCO. International programs have been started of preserving these, for example when the temples of Abu Simbel in Egypt, which were relocated in 1968.
Handbook edit
John Cummings made a very good handbook about how to work together with Intergovernmental Organizations. The handbook can be found here (be careful and don't delete parts by mistake): [1]
National Commissions edit
National commissions (UNESCO page) are your partner. Almost every country has one, there are 199 of them in total.