Global InformationAfrican World Heritage Day information
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"Proclaimed by the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO (November 2015), African World Heritage Day is an opportunity for people around the world, and particularly Africans, to celebrate the Continent’s irreplaceable cultural and natural heritage."[1]
According to UNESCO's news article, May 5, 2017 - African World Heritage Day, "Africa remains underrepresented on the World Heritage List."[1] As of June 2023, Africa hosts 54 cultural sites, 39 natural sites, and 5 mixed (cultural & natural) sites for 98 total sites, or 8.47% of the 1157 total sites worldwide.[2] Numerous problems "threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List," including armed conflict and war, earthquakes and other natural disasters, pollution, poaching, uncontrolled urbanization, and unchecked tourist development.[3] Worldwide, 55 sites are identified as "in danger," and 15 sites reside in Africa.
UNESCO is committed to spearheading international efforts to draw on the vast potential of Africa's cultural and natural heritage as a force for poverty reduction and social cohesion as well as a driver of sustainable development and innovation. Through this international day, UNESCO aims to increase global awareness of African heritage, with a special focus on youth, and to mobilise enhanced cooperation for its safeguarding on the local, regional and global level.[4]
The Day was established to raise awareness of the immense potential of the African cultural and natural heritage. It also aims to alert the world to the vulnerability of this heritage: there are 21 African sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The preservation and enhancement of this heritage are essential factors in sustainable development, the only kind of development capable of meeting the complex challenges that face Africa today and include climate change, the challenge of education and the economy, and rapid urbanization.
Mobilizing local communities, especially young people, around the safeguarding of the heritage, involving them in projects that place value on their cultural identity and natural environment, is one of the best ways of opening up prospects for the future and for development. It is in particular through training and education that this mobilization may eventually prove to be most effective.[5]
- ^ a b UNESCO World Heritage Centre (2 May 2017). "5 May 2017 – African World Heritage Day". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ World Heritage Centre. "World Heritage List Statistics". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "World Heritage in Danger". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ "African World Heritage Day". UNESCO. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "African World Heritage Day, Message from the Director General". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 22 July 2018.