1st UNESCO-led China-Germany exchange on sustainable development in heritage conservation

The first China/Germany Cultural Exchange on Heritage Conservation for Sustainable Development, organized at the initiative of UNESCO, took place in September 2018 in Berlin, Germany, and gathered international experts and stakeholders for an international reflection session on the role of culture as a vector of sustainable development on the international stage, today and in the future.

Organized by the UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office and hosted by the Institute for Heritage Management, with the support of the German National Commission for UNESCO, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the German Ministry of Culture, and the German National Committee for Monument Protection, this meeting aimed to facilitate effective exchanges between policy makers, experts and practitioners from China, Germany and beyond, and to help them engage in sharing good practices in the field of heritage protection for sustainable development.

“Culture plays a crucial role in sustainable development. Yet integrating various aspects of culture is not an easy task. It calls for strong multi-stakeholder partnership across fields of expertise and across national boundaries,” emphasized Dr Feng Jing, Chief of the Asia-Pacific Unit of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

A Chinese delegation consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage participated in this exchange, along with heritage experts, site managers of World Heritage properties, and Intangible Cultural Heritage bearers. During the five-day event, exchanges were organised with the Berlin Monument Protection Office on World Heritage management practices, and participants engaged in discussions with representatives from the Federal Commission for Cultural and Media Affairs, as well as with the UNESCO Chair and students in the World Heritage Studies Programme at the Brandenburg University of Technology.

It is hoped that this UNESCO-led cultural exchange between China and Germany can inspire new reflections and partnerships on culture as an enabler of sustainable development. Together with other pilot activities within the framework of the project “Conservation and Management of World Heritage Sites in China”, the aim is to create a pool of well-documented good practice cases for the benefit of a wider international audience interested in the transmission of heritage to future generations.

This activity has been implemented in the framework of UNESCO/Mercedes-Benz Funds-In-Trust project on the Conservation and Management of World Heritage sites in China.

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Image: The Chinese Delegation at the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin World Heritage property. © UNESCO / UNESCO