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The International Convention
for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Oral traditions and expressions, including language
as a vehicle of intangible cultural heritage, the performing arts,
social practices, rituals and festive events, as well as the knowledge
and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional
craftsmanship, now benefit from an international legal instrument
to safeguard intangible heritage through cooperation.
An overwhelming majority of the Member States attending
the UNESCO General Conference at Headquarters (September 29 to October
17, 2003), adopted the International Convention
for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which
complements the Organization's existing legal instruments for the
safeguarding of heritage.
'The safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage
is of general interest to humanity,' states the Convention, which
underlines its 'invaluable role' in 'bringing human beings closer
together and ensuring exchange and understanding among them.'
The convention requires a minimum of 30 States Party
signatories to enter into force.
The convention specifically provides for the drawing
up of national inventories of cultural property to be protected,
the establishment of an Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding
of Intangible Cultural Heritage, composed of experts from future
States Parties to the Convention, and the creation of two lists
- a Representative List of Intangible Heritage of Humanity and a
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
The text further stresses that safeguarding intangible
cultural heritage is a complex process involving many parties, starting
with the communities and groups that bring it to life. According
to the Convention, safeguarding activities will be financed by a
fund made up of contributions from States Parties, funds appropriated
for this purpose by UNESCO's General Conference, and contributions,
gifts or bequests made by other States, organizations or individuals.
According to Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO's Assistant
Director-General for Culture, the new Convention 'will benefit from
UNESCO's 30 years of experience in the domain of tangible cultural
heritage', safeguarded by the 1972 Convention, 'which, when necessary,
served as a model for the new instrument.'
The complete text of the Conventioncan be found
at: http://www.unesco.org/confgen/2003/intangible
Proclamation of Masterpieces
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
In 1998, UNESCO created an international distinction
entitled Proclamation of Masterpieces of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity to honour the most
remarkable examples of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity
to safeguard, transmit and revitalize this extremely precious asset
of the human cultural treasury, and to maintain the world's cultural
diversity.
The Proclamation encourages governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and local communities to identify, safeguard,
revitalize and promote their oral and intangible cultural heritage.
It also aims to encourage individuals, groups, institutions and
organizations to contribute to the management, preservation, protection
and promotion of this heritage.
The Proclamation rewards cultural spaces and traditional/popular
forms of cultural expression, both of which have an outstanding
value. A cultural space is defined as a place which has a concentration
of popular and traditional cultural activities and also as a time
for a regularly occurring event. The temporal and physical space
owes its existence to the cultural events which traditionally take
place there. A traditional/popular form of cultural expression manifests
itself through language, oral literature, music, dance, games, mythology,
rituals, costumes, craftwork, and other arts, as well as through
traditional forms of communication and information.
In 2001, nineteen masterpieces of the oral and intangible
heritage of humanity were proclaimed: The Garifuna Language, Dance
and Music (Belize), The Oral Heritage of Gelede (Benin), The Oruro
Carnival (Bolivia), The Kunqu opera (China), The Gbofe of Afounkaha,
the Music of the Transverse Trumpets of the Tagbana Community (Côte
d'Ivoire), The Cultural Space of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit
of the Congos of Villa Mella (Dominican Republic), The Oral Heritage
and Cultural events of the Zápara People (Ecuador-Peru), Georgian
Polyphonic Singing (Georgia), The Cultural Space of Sosso-Bala in
Nyagassola (Guinea), The Kutiyattam Sanskrit Theatre (India), Opera
dei Pupi, Sicilian Puppet Theatre (Italy), The Nogaku Theatre (Japan),
Cross Crafting and its Symbolism (Lithuania), The Cultural Space
of Jemaa el-Fna Square (Morocco), Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao (Philippines),
Royal Ancestral Rite and Ritual Music in Jongmyo Shrine (Republic
of Korea), The Cultural Space and Oral Culture of the Semeiskie
(Russian Federation), The Mystery Play of Elche (Spain), and The
Cultural Space of the Boysun District (Uzbekistan). The proclaimed
masterpieces are a vivid representation of the world's cultural
richness and diversity, handed down from generation to generation.
In 2003, the International Jury recommended a list
of twenty-eight cultural spaces or forms of traditional and popular
expression, which were then proclaimed as masterpieces. These 28
Masterpieces (2 in Africa, 11 in Asia, 4 in Europe, 3 in the Arab
States, 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 2 multinational)
represent outstanding examples of the intangible cultural heritage
of humanity testifying to the world's cultural diversity: Azerbaijani
Mugham (Azerbaijan), The Carnival of Binoche (Belgium), The Andean
Cosmovision of the Kallawaya (Bolivia), The Oral and Graphic Expressions
of the Wajapi (Brazil), The Oral Traditions of the Aka Pygmies of
Central Africa (Central African Republic), The Royal Ballet of Cambodia
(Cambodia), The Art of Guqin Music (China), The Carnival of Barranquilla
(Colombia), La Tumba Francesa, Music of the Oriente Brotherhood
(Cuba), The Al-Sirah al-Hilaliyya Epic (Egypt), The Kihnu Cultural
Space (Estonia), The Tradition of Vedic Chanting (India), Wayang
Puppet Theatre (Indonesia), The Maroon Heritage of Moore Town (Jamaica),
Ningyo Johruri Bunraku Puppet Theatre (Japan), The Art of Akyns,
Kyrgyz Epic Tellers (Kyrgyzstan), Woodcrafting Knowledge of the
Zafimaniry (Madagascar), The Indigenous Festivity Dedicated to the
Dead (Mexico), The Traditional Music of Morin Khuur (Mongolia),
The Pansori Epic Chant (Republic of Korea), Lakalaka, Dances and
Sung Speeches of Tonga (Tonga), The Arts of the Meddah, Public Storytellers
(Turkey), Vanuatu Sand Drawings (Vanuatu), Nha Nhac, Vietnamese
Court Music (Viet Nam), Arab States: Iraqi Maqam (Iraq), Songs of
Sanaa (Yemen), The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrations (Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania), Shashmaqom Music (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).
Furthermore, the Second Proclamation coincides with
the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible
Cultural Heritage (see page 25).
The third Proclamation is expected in 2005.
To obtain more information, please visit: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/
LINKS - Local and Indigenous
Knowledge Systems
LINKS - Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems is
a UNESCO project that focuses on the interface between local and
indigenous knowledge and on the Millennium Development Goals of
poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. It addresses
the different ways that indigenous knowledge, practices and worldviews
are drawn into development and resource management processes. It
also considers the implications this may have for building equity
in governance, enhancing cultural pluralism and sustaining biodiversity.
The key modalities for the LINKS action include the
following:
- demonstration projects in collaboration with rural and indigenous
communities;
- action research on key concerns and issues;
- information and communication technologies to record, manage
and transmit indigenous knowledge and know-how;
- training to build local capacities in relevant multimedia techniques;
and
- international workshops and seminars to promote reflection
and dialogue.
The LINKS project promotes an all-encompassing approach
to local and indigenous knowledge. The fact is that in many cultures,
the 'rational' or 'objective' cannot be separated from the 'sacred'
or 'intuitive'. Nature and Culture are not opposed and circumscribed
by sharp boundaries. Knowledge, practice and representations are
intertwined and mutually dependent.
A number of sessions, seminars, workshops, events
and conferences have been organized within the framework of the
LINKS project and a number of documents and publications have been
published.
For more information, please contact: Local
and Indigenous Knowledge Systems, UNESCO, SC/CSI-LINKS, 1 rue Miollis,
75732 Paris Cedex 15, France; fax: +33 1 4568 5808; e-mail: links@unesco.org;
http://www.unesco.org/links
The Small Islands Voice
The Small Islands Voice
is an inter-regional initiative focusing on small islands - both
small island developing states and islands with other affiliations
- in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. The goal of
this initiative is that the voice of the general public in small
islands should be heard loud and clear and that this voice should
become a driving force for island development. While this is a long-term
vision, it is hoped that the Small Islands Voice can make a significant
contribution, which can help pave the way towards sustainable island
development.
The Small Islands Voice started in early 2002 from
St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, from Seychelles in the Indian
Ocean and from Palau in the Pacific, and they all embarked upon
different activities within their regions. Many other islands are
now actively involved in the Small Islands Voice, through global
internet-based discussions and specific locally-based activities.
Involving young people in determining the future of
their islands is an important part of this initiative. The initiative
is all about people in small islands exchanging their views on environment
and developing issues, working together to solve their problems
and taking part in the Small Island Developing States' Programme
of Action.
To get involved, please contact: Claire Green,
UNESCO-CSI, Paris, France tel.: +33 1 45 68 40 43; fax: +33 1 45
68 58 08; e-mail: c.green@unesco.org; or Gillian Cambers, P.O. Box
783, Puerto Rico 00677, tel.: +1 787 823 1756; fax: +1 787 823 1774;
e-mail: g_cambers@hotmail.com,
gilliancambers@aol.com;
http://www.smallislandsvoice.org
World Cities Join to Protect
Their Biological and Cultural Diversity
The image of cities as hotbeds of pollution, stress,
poverty and crime needs an update. They are also havens of natural
and cultural diversity - and may hold the keys to sustainable development
in the twenty-first century. While some three billion people worldwide
are now estimated to live in towns or cities, with a growing number
of poor, cities are by no means incompatible with rich biodiversity.
Settler cemeteries in Chicago have preserved some of the oldest
oak trees in the region, peregrine falcons nest on Manhattan's bridges
and there are more species of leafy plant in a 30-kilometre radius
around Brooklyn than in the vast farmlands of USA's mid-West. Meanwhile,
highly built-up Seoul is finding that rooftop green spaces provide
'stepping stones' of biodiversity, where some long-banished species
are returning.
To take this 'new look' at cities even further, counsellors,
planners and other urban stakeholders from cities around the world,
including New York and Chicago (USA), Cape Town (South Africa),
Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Montevideo (Uruguay), Rome (Italy), Sao
Paulo (Brazil), Stockholm (Sweden), and Seoul (Republic of Korea),
met with scientists and conservation specialists in a two-day conference
on 'Urban Biosphere and Society: Partnership of Cities', organized
by Columbia University, UNESCO and UN-Habitat, 29-30 October 2003,
at the New York Academy of Sciences, which also co-sponsored the
event.
One outcome of the meeting is the creation of a partnership
between these cities to pool experience and expertise on a long-term,
regular basis. The participants discussed the usefulness of sustainable
development tools, such as UNESCO's 'biosphere reserve' concept,
already applied for over thirty years in 440 sites in 97 countries.
Although some of these sites include cities, so far no urban area
has used this model to examine the interplay between social, economic
and environmental issues in sustainability. Some cities, like Rome
and Seoul, are actively looking into the applicability of UNESCO's
urban biosphere reserve concept.
To look at some of the challenges and opportunities
of treating urban environments as dynamic biospheres, in 2000 Columbia
University's Earth Institute teamed with UNESCO and its Man and
the Biosphere (MAB) programme to form CUBES (the Columbia University-UNESCO
Joint Programme on Biosphere and Society). CUBES has since invited
case studies from eleven cities. Research findings from several
of these case studies were presented at the two-day meeting in New
York.
Some urban ecology initiatives
New York Metropolitan Region
The New York Metropolitan Region is one of the most
urbanized regions in the world, with a total population of 21.5
million, 8 million of them living in New York City. But the region
has some 2413.5 kilometres of coast shoreline and four of the five
New York City boroughs are located on islands. With urbanization,
many of the region's vulnerable and critical habitats - especially
wetlands - have been degraded. The few remaining habitat sites,
like Jamaica Bay, an hour's subway ride from central Manhattan,
still provide critical ecological functions, such as stopping-off
points for migratory bird species. As clean-up efforts have progressed,
these sites have witnessed a noticeable increase in species richness
over the past decades. The wetlands also provide a buffer against
the forecast rise in sea level with global warming. This function,
though, has been dramatically reduced by landfill and construction,
which prevents the wetlands from 'retreating' inland to absorb sea
level rise.
The New York Metropolitan Region case study shows
how the biosphere model can be adapted to provide a set of tools
for sustainable development linked to the conservation of biological
and cultural diversity. Whereas in the classical biosphere reserves
there is a core conservation area with minimum human impact, surrounded
by a buffer zone, in an urban biosphere reserve the 'core' might
even lie outside the densely-inhabited areas. And unlike the traditional
biosphere reserve, the function of the core in an urban area like
New York, might be a focus for the region's social and cultural
activity and identity, rather than a hotspot of biodiversity. In
New York, a potential 'core' area would be the New York/New Jersey
harbour and estuary area.
The case study also looks at the so-called 'footprint'
of the city, its impact on natural resources. On the one hand the
footprint can be global, as it encourages, for example, turning
fields over to monoculture coffee plantation in distant countries.
But the footprint of a high-rise development is also much smaller
than a suburban area with similar population.
Green rooftops for Seoul
Around 42 per cent of Seoul is covered with buildings.
Open land is scarce and market forces favour development, making
green spaces for wild animals scarce. But, by landscaping the city's
rooftops, an estimated 200 square kilometres of green space could
be created - approximately 30 per cent of the Seoul area. To further
this idea, Seoul city government now actively promotes rooftop greening,
paying for structural safety survey costs. It has already provided
funding for 10 sites, in addition to a pioneering project on the
top of UNESCO's downtown field office building. In UNESCO's rooftop
site, just 5 months after its construction, the 75 species of plant
introduced at the outset had already been joined by a further 39
species, presumably from surrounding green areas, while 37 species
of insect had colonized the site.
In addition to the experimental green rooftop scheme,
Seoul also has a 167 square kilometre greenbelt around its perimeter,
limiting uncontrolled sprawl. It includes forest, dry fields and
rice paddies and is complemented by a patchwork of green spaces
in the city that could potentially be linked by green corridors.
This complex provides the basis for plans to form a city-wide urban
biosphere reserve.
Sao Paulo City Green Belt biosphere reserve
With its 18 million inhabitants Sao Paulo is the world's
fourth largest urban agglomeration. In 1994, the 1.5 million hectare
Sao Paulo City Green Belt Reserve was established as part of the
UNESCO Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve, following a petition signed
by over 150,000 people. In addition to its diverse ecosystems, including
the rain forest, cultivated areas, savannas and water bodies, the
Green Belt biosphere reserve provides opportunities for youth training
in subjects such as ecotourism, organic farming, land rehabilitation,
waste recycling and small-scale food production. Over 500 students
have already followed such courses. The biosphere reserve has also
become an important forum for promoting citizenship and environmental
debates and has already resulted in drastic modifications to a planned
highway scheme.
Cape Town Case Study
Cape Town, in the south west of the African continent,
has a population of about 3.5 million. Two UNESCO biosphere reserves
already exist in the surrounding rural areas and a third is currently
being proposed. The Cape Town urban biosphere case study covers
the Cape Flats area, where some 20 per cent of the population lives
in sprawling, informal settlements. In some of its communities,
over 70 per cent of the residents live below the poverty line. Unemployment
is high, with only 36 per cent of adults in paid employment. The
windswept mosaic of dunes and wetlands of Cape Flats is where victims
of apartheid were relocated out of white areas. Now, in a pilot
initiative, the City of Cape Town has joined with the Botanical
Society of South Africa, the National Botanical Institute and the
Table Mountain Fund to form Cape Flats Nature. This project focuses
on conservation and restoration of biodiversity in several sites,
enlisting the participation of local people through educational
programmes.
For more information, please contact: Suzanne
Bilello (+1-212 963 4386), or Melody Corry (+-1-212-963-5985/5992).
DigiArts - UNESCO Knowledge
Portal
Arts and music connected to media and technology
DigiArts is one of UNESCO's
initiatives aiming at the development of interdisciplinary activities
in research, creativity and communication in the field of media
arts. Focusing on three target groups, artists/researchers, young
people, and the general public, it promotes intercultural dialogue
and cultural diversity within the knowledge society. It is a part
of the Knowledge Portal - together with the Ocean, Education and
Heritage portals - through which UNESCO has taken measures to ensure
that it enters the development era of ICT disseminating and sharing
knowledge. Under the supervision of Ms Milagros Del Corral, UNESCO's
Deputy Assistant Director-General for Culture, it is coordinated
by an interdisciplinary group of UNESCO professionals from different
sectors, both at the Headquarters in Paris and in the field offices,
and also assisted by a network of international institutions working
in the portal's fields of competence. DigiArts has the following
aims:
- to disseminate historical, theoretical,
artistic, technical and scientific research in the field of electronic
and digital arts, including the interdisciplinary study of the
arts and sciences;
- to promote information exchange, dialogue
and communication among artists, scientists and technicians from
different geo-cultural regions, especially enabling developing
countries to develop their own approaches and practices in various
disciplines and fields of knowledge connected to media arts;
- to support existing institutions and networks
throughout the world in the transfer of knowledge;
- to encourage the use of electronic software
among the youth for electronic communication and creation.
DigiArts gathers information on media art and music
using technology. Each section provides access to documents and
books in the specific fields and biographies of individual artists
classified by geographical region. In addition, it also provides
the mapping of institutions in the field of media arts and music
using technology, including research centres, educational institutions,
and information on training opportunities, such as free software
tutorials and online seminars.
For more information, please visit the website:
http://portal.unesco.org/digiarts
Bursaries for Artists Programme
UNESCO-Aschberg 2004-2005
The UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists Programme
was created in 1994 to open new career prospects to young artists
in all disciplines. This is done by offering them the opportunity
to continue their training in specialized institutions. This programme
operates under the aegis of the International
Fund for the Promotion of Culture of UNESCO (IFPC). For 2003/2004
the programme proposed 57 fellowships offered by 40 partner institutions
in 26 countries.
The UNESCO-Aschberg Brochure is available on UNESCO's
Internet site: www.unesco.org/culture/ifpc which is regularly updated.
For more information, please contact: UNESCO-IFPC,
1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France, e-mail: dir.aschberg@unesco.org;
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ifpc;
http://www.unesco.org/culture/aschberg
The Global Alliance on line
The Global Alliance for Cultural
Diversity goes live with a new database conceived as an interactive
platform to match offers and demands from members and other cultural
operators concerning the development of local creative industries
and the enforcement of copyright. Fully respecting the confidential
nature of certain information, the database provides access to profiles,
requests and offers of services, know-how and collaboration put
forward by over 150 Global Alliance partners operating in all regions.
A true meeting point, the new Global Alliance website enhances network
possibilities for partners and will facilitate the establishment
of new partnerships and pilot projects.
Are you looking for a partner to overcome domestic
and international distribution barriers? Would you benefit from
training in a key domain? Would you appreciate receiving support
and guidance to develop or redefine your business plan? Are you
interested in sharing your entrepreneurial know-how in the publishing,
music or multimedia environment? The Global Alliance database is
at your disposal to open new opportunities for you and others.
For more information, please visit: http://www.unesco.org/culture/alliance
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