Living Religious World Heriatge Sites: Participatory Management and Sustainable Use

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Center and the Armenian National Commission of UNESCO, organized and hosted a thematic regional consultation meeting of experts from the World Heritage Sites Religious interest in Eastern Europe, entitled ‘Living Religious World Heritage: Participatory Management and Sustainable Use. The meeting took place in Erevan, capital of Armenia, from April 18 to 22, 2018.

International experts, guest speakers, representatives of religious communities and international organizations presented their case studies in countries, to illustrate the main challenges of governance, management and use of world heritage sites of religious interest.

Josep-Maria Mallarach represented the IUCN, and presented the experience that this organization has developed during the last years, which have given rise to a good practice guide developed jointly by IUCN-UNESCO on sacred natural sites, in addition of the results of the work of the Delos Initiative and other expert groups.

The meeting was framed within the UNESCO Initiative on World Heritage of Religious Interest, in response to Decision 5D of the World Heritage Committee adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul, 2016), which called on the States parties to contribute to the development of initiatives and thematic programs.

More information on the UNESCO website.